Leaves Whistling in the Wind
by Penny-Writer-09
Summary: Kurama and Minato were friends before the attack? Tsunade Senju is Naruto's mother? And who is that little black-haired girl, Anko? Warning: Swearing, mokuton, and blood... Rated M just to be save... NarutoxYugito Well, just have fun reading it :D
1. War is Over

**Okay, that's my first NarutoMokuton story. I hope you will enjoy reading it!**

**I don't have a Beta Reader for this story, if you are interested, please contact me via PM.**

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><p><em><span>Prologue: War is over<span>_

Minato was a blonde man in his twenties- handsome, smart, and fast. He was one of the fastest shinobis alive, if not the fastest. So maybe that was the reason why…

But still, he didn't know what to think of Hiruzen anymore. Maybe his wife started torturing him, because their youngest son went to the Daimjo. Or maybe the old Hokage became senile after 56 years of fighting death. He seriously didn't know...

But for what other reason would he send Minato to the border of Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) in the southwest, alone! _"Just tell the forest that you are the new Hokage."_ Great. And then what? Is the sky supposed to break up in the middle of nowhere? Or is the moon supposed to fall from the sky? Or are the trees supposed to start dancing and sing "_Seasons of Love_"?

During the last war which ended about one month ago, they didn't even need to secure this border at all. Nobody ever used it in fear of mononokes, small little animal spirits who were said to prank everybody they didn't like. And the people who didn't believe in these creatures always complained about the conditions of the streets and other paths. Even Minato, the best shinobi of Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) and Konoha, new Hokage said village had his troubles jumping from branch to branch through the forest. It was like the trees didn't _want_ anybody to get in there!

He would have used his jutsu, but dear Hiruzen Sarutobi prohibited it. And again Minato couldn't stop himself to wonder. Why should he forbid it to let Minato travel at a faster space? The sooner he would arrive at this mysterious destination, the sooner he could come back and do his new job- fighting against a never ending mass of papers…

He stopped his daydreaming, when he noticed, that he couldn't move further into the forest from the branch he was standing on. Swearing, he turned around just to find himself face to face with a red haired lady. She wasn't very tall, only about 5' and wore a beautiful green kimono with a white obi. Her face was covered by a fox-mask, so that he only could make out the green of her eyes. At first he thought his childhood friend Kushina had followed him, but he couldn't deny the fact that the woman in front of him had too long hair.

His kunai was faster in his hand than anybody could see. His eyes watching every movement the woman would make. They may have made a peace treaty with all the big countries, but before that he had killed a lot of shinobis. There could always be people out there who want to kill you for revenge.

But the woman stayed where she was, seemingly looking bored at her claw-like hands.

"Who are you?" Minato asked still watching every move she made.

"Doesn't matter. Just tell me already what the cute little monkey wants"

Minato couldn't help but look at her confused. Cute little… monkey? What was she speaking about? Hiruzen Sarutobi sent him here to…

He stopped dead in his tracks. Saru meant monkey. Did she mean Hiruzen? But there were also other Sarutobis out in Konoha… But none of them could summon monkeys, could they? It was all worth a try…

"Well, I am the new Hokage an-", he was interrupted by her laughing. She looked him up and down, just to laugh again. Minato couldn't place it, but it sounded artificial and somehow it gave him the chills…

"The new Hokage? So our monkey really decided that enough was enough. Does he start a new life as professor now?" she asked and said down on the branch, leaning against the trunk.

"I am not sure. But who are you?"

Even though her face was hidden under her mask, he felt like she looked draggers at him. Then her look seemed to soften. She laughed again, but this time it sounded honest.

"Long story short? I am Kurama, the Kyuubi no Kitsune. I am responsible for your first Hokage's death, for the death of Hashirama Senju. I also happen to be the "monster" that killed some of your shinobis but also a lot from Kiri and Suna, who tried to attack you trough this forest. So you may yell at me or thank me, but don't think I am going to listen or remember it."

The youngest Hokage just watched her with wide eyes. Did he meet one of these mononokes? That woman looked like 20, maybe 25. Hashirama died 50 years ago and it was said, that Kyuubi was a fox demon living since thousands of years, before Konoha was even build!

"I could also receive silence" Kurama said playing with her hair, before she sighed. "Listen little man. I don't care about you humans, so I am only going to ask you if we expand the deal I made with Hiruzen. But that would be with your name if you don't mind"

A deal? Could demons make deals without breaking them? He realized that his mouth was still open from shock and closed it quickly. He could call her a murderer because of everybody she killed… But he killed people in wartime, too. If Hiruzen could trust her… maybe he should trust her as well?

"What kind of deal would it be, Kurama-san?" He could have sworn that she smiled under that mask, before she started playing with her hair again.

"Well, I won't let anybody invade your country from this forest. Civilians may pass without being harmed- your shinobis as well if they don't use any chakra in here. And if a country attacks and is within a 10 miles radius to Konoha, I will destroy them. And you, dear Hokage will just leave me alone for the rest of the time being. No attacks from your side, no summons, and no damn fuinjutsu, scratch that, no damn jutsus at all. I don't care what kind of jutsus they are, they will not be allowed within this forest. The penalization is the death of the user." She looked up again and changed her voice to that of a teenage-girl: "Any questions?"

"You won't attack us?" Minato asked, he still wasn't sure if he could trust her or not. But maybe, maybe the deal was the reason, why Hiruzen wanted him here. And so the older man would trust her, wouldn't he? Hiruzen couldn't have told him "_Oh, by the way, you will meet the Kyuubi there_." Well, the moon didn't fall from the sky… but Kyuubi.

"My new cute little Hokage, why should I attack you? You are some humans piled up in that thing you call village. If you don't annoy me, I won't annoy you, end of story. I don't really care about you humans in general"

Minato wasn't sure if she just wanted to toy around with him. If she didn't care about the humans, why did she want to help them defend Konoha if worst came to worst? He wanted to ask her, but she seemed more likely to just change that line of the deal than to explain herself to him.

"Okay, how do we refresh that deal of yours and Hiruzen-sama?" Again, he had the feeling she was watching him- closely, like she tried to determine his worth.

"Well," she produced a scroll out of a bag, which Minato hadn't noticed till now "please sign the scroll with your blood and full name, _Hokage_" With that said, Kurama let go of the scroll ad let it fall into the depths of the forest.

In the mass of thoughts which jumped through Minato's head, only three didn't make him freeze in place. First, that scroll was important. Second, it was falling. And third, was that down there a river?

Without letting as much as a second pass by, Minato jumped after the scroll, catching it within 15 meters of falling and landing on a thick branch over the river.

The sound of clapping reached his ears. He wanted to yell at the woman… But no matter what his title was, he didn't want to face the wrath of a woman or, to be precise, the wrath of a monster which could destroy whole forests with the wave of a hand…

"Good job there. You may sign it. Maybe I will even remember your name." Minato wasn't sure if he was supposed to hear the last sentence, so he ignored it.

He read quickly through the scroll, which just stated what the woman said earlier. Minato watched the woman one last time playing with her hair, before sighing, biting his thumb, and writing his name under that of the older Hokage, wishing he was still dreaming…

Minato looked the scroll over for the last time, before jumping up next to her, and handing it to the red haired beauty, a fact he couldn't deny.

"Thank you," she looked the scroll over before signing it with her own blood "Minato Namikaze"

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><p>Tsunade felt annoyed. She just lost over three Million Ryo- in only one game. Well, before that she also lost some money, some Millions… But the problem was she lost these three Million too fast! Did her <em>luck<em> receive any kind of boom? Not that she would have been happy if she won. Winning always meant problems or really, _really_ bad luck…

Tsunade was a good looking woman, who promised tortures to everybody who tried to guess her age and estimated it over twenty. Her bust was scarily large and it was said that she nearly killed one of her friends for trying to peak at her in the bath house.

Her apprentice Shizune sat next to her and watched her with a worried face. Shizune may have looked like an adult, but she was only 15 years of age. She sat next to her sensei and tried not to think about the poor depth-collectors who they would run away from again.

Tsunade wanted to try the game again, when she felt a familiar chakra presence. It wasn't too far away and reminded her of her old friend Jiraiya, who visited her time and again to speak about old stuff…

Without saying a word she stood up and nodded to the other guys, before turning to the door. Shizune was right behind her with a relieved face, happy that her sensei didn't want to waste any more money with her gambling.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Shizune looked confused at her sensei, asking the silent question, what they were going to do. But Tsunade just shook her head and followed the chakra signature. If it was a nukenin, she could make him feel her anger about her loses. Maybe she could also erase some of her liabilities if the nukenin caused enough trouble.

Tsunade forgot her anger as she saw Minato Namikaze, the best of Jiraiya's students and present Hokage in the next street. His blonde hair was easy to make out in the dark street and his white cloak with the red flames on it was difficult to miss. Without caring about his new title or reason for being here, she called out to him.

"Hey, Gaki! What the hell do you want here?" Shizune watched her sensei scared. _The girl was too well mannered for her own good_, Tsunade remembered "If you are here to get me back to Konoha, you better forget it right now!"

"Tsunade-san?" Minato's blue eyes locked hers as his voice gave away his disbelieve and surprise.

Tsunade relaxed a little. If he didn't know, she was here, then he wouldn't try to force her back, would he? Well, that was all she could ask for…

Or was she wrong?

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><p><strong>Okay, that's it for now. <strong>

**So, please review! ^^**


	2. Pillows and Food

_Chapter 1: Pillows and Food_

Tsunade couldn't stop moving. She called for Minato about half a minute ago and he still didn't arrive! She felt the panic consuming in her mind.

What should she do? What should she do? What in Kami's name should she do?

She was circling around a table in a hotel, where Shizune and she were staying at - for now. During the last month, they moved around a lot. A random person might have thought, she tried to hide from something… but she was just a little… restless? And now that she knew why... since this morning… when she noticed that something was off. And that something was really far off, further than far than-

Her thoughts were interrupted by a chakra signature, forming next to her, right where she had thrown that damn Hirashin Kunai. She said his name, as calmly as she could.

"Sorry for the wait, the council wouldn't let-" He was interrupted by a certain blonde hitting his head. Before he could even notice the pain, she started hugging him.

"Everything's all right, Tsunade-chan?" Minato asked noticing that the older kunoichi seemed… a little different. As they met four months ago, the older blonde hated every kind of affection and feelings. It took Minato forever to just shake her hand… but now?

"We need to talk, right here and right now. And I need something to do… Do you mind if I start throwing pillows at you?" Tsunade knew how stupid that sounded, but it was the truth. She needed something to do and fast. Apparently Minato was of the same opinion, his eyebrows hid behind his hair…

But the young Hokage didn't question her. He stopped doing that after their first meeting, about sixteen years ago, when his Sensei Jiraiya introduced him and his team to his childhood friend. He would never forget this day, ever. Tsunade sent their perverted sensei flying via her fist.

Since then, his female teammate, Kushina looked up to the famous medicnin and tried to imitate that move on Minato…

No, he would never forget that faithful day…

"So, what's wrong?" He asked kicking a pillow into Tsunade's arms, while trying to act as causal as possible. Whatever happened… if he pissed her off too much, she could kill him with that pillow…

Instead of answering, the kunoichi chewed on her lip and turned the pillow around, watching it from all sides. It had not much decoration and it was soft…

"We will safe that for later," she threw the feather-filled-article, which Minato easily dodged. "How many enemies do you have- all over the Elemental Countries?"

She threw the next pillow, while the younger blonde kicked the other back to her. Unsurprisingly, he caught it without big effort. She noticed the look in the hokage's eyes. It was filled with curiosity, disbelieve… and something else she couldn't place.

"Well, all the Iwa-nins hate me probably, for taking out their main force. No scratch that probably. I am sure they loathe me more than their own traitors." He tried to give her a reassuring smile, which she just ignored. "And A-dono isn't that happy with me either, since our last fight ended in a tie." Before he could ask her, why she asked, a pillow met his face.

"And in Konoha? Any people who want to see you dead or suffering?" Tsunade kept asking ignoring the puzzled look in his eyes after the pillow fell down into his hands. But she already threw another at him.

_Damn, where did that third pillow come from?,_ he wondered while dodging.

"The old war-hawk Danzo is still making some fuss over the whole peace treaty with Iwa-thing. He wants to squeeze all of their money out of them and destroy the balance of the nations. But I don't think he is going to kill me, just because of this." Minato threw her both the pillows as she moved for them, time to play wooden dolly again.

"People have killed for smaller reasons," he couldn't help but nod. The medic-nin was right. But that didn't mean that he had to like what she said in-between… He thought, while dodging the next pillow. He knew of people who killed a whole village, because one of the civilians wore a pink hat he didn't like.

"Why do you ask for my enemies? What's with yours?" He asked, trying to turn the conversation around and to figure out, what she was trying to say, not that he hoped for an answer…

She stopped dead in her tracks and eyed him, not at all shocked about the change of the conversation. Angered, she threw one pillow in her hand into a cupboard, causing some books and shogi pawns to fall down. The second flew into a weird-looking, stuffed bear, which was part of the furniture and looked like a sick monkey.

"Mine?" She asked and sounded almost offended. "Well, apart from the debts collectors, I only have to worry about that Hanzou-bastard. The others are already gone, thanks to Kami."

He didn't know why, but Minato felt like Tsunade left some valuable information out…

She walked to an armchair and dropped herself into it. All of the sudden, she didn't look like the beautiful medic-nin any more, she looked like an older woman tired of fighting and seeing destroyed homes…

Minato kneed down next to her. "What's wrong?" His voice was soft and his eyes clearly asking the question, while watching every move she made. He needed to know…

And so Tsunade started to tell him. She told him about her fears of losing persons close to her, like her brother Nawaki or her fiancé Dan. She started to tell him about her job as a medic-nin, while all the time, trying not to get to emotional and failing…

And finally, she told him what she discovered…

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><p>Shizune walked through the streets of Tanzaku Gai with a bunch of groceries in her arms. She and her sensei just moved into this place. They traveled so much around during the last weeks, months- Shizune didn't unpack all of her belongings… Also, Tsunade stopped her nearly never ending gambling… which was really abnormal. <em>Tsunade not gambling?<em> Since when did her sensei play only one game in a _whole_ week? They _passed _all those gambling areas and her sensei didn't even _look_ at them…

The older woman really changed during the last four months. After they met Minato, Tsunade invited him over. They were drinking sake till late at night. Shizune went to bed after their second bottle. The next morning, though, she found nearly a dozen empty container of the alcoholic liquor all over the eating area.

Minato then offered to help them out with some of their problems if they needed any help. He even gave them one of his special kunais to visit them time and again.

Something was defiantly wrong. She couldn't quiet place it, but it felt like her sensei did something forbidden… But what? Surely, Tsunade wouldn't attack anybody, would she? Or she wouldn't plan on taking revenge on some Kumo-shinobis for killing her previous finance, would she?

Shizune turned into the street to her left and walked to the hotel they were staying at. Surprisingly, it wasn't anything big. Tsunade loved big hotels and the including luxury she couldn't receive in the 2nd or 3rd Great Shinobi War. Her sensei always looked for big hotels, but not this time.

Did she miss something? And more importantly- did she really want to know, what she missed?

Shizune sighed, greeted the receptionist, and walked up the stairs. Well, all the upcoming troubles could wait. Her sensei was like an aunt or big sister for her. If something would go wrong, Tsunade would tell her- before everything went south. She just needed to trust a little more in the blonde.

"I am back, sensei," she called out "And I got some soba ingredients. But please, don't try the cooking again. I like to survive at least till I am twenty."

Tsunade made an annoyed noise from further in the small rooms they lived in. Shizune threw her shoes to the ground and went into the seating area, which was connected to a little kitchen _corner_. It really was a corner only, with a stove and a sink- nothing more.

"I can cook," Tsunade said from an armchair rubbing her eyes. But she was silenced by her _apprentice's_ look.

"I remember you saying that last time, too, and the time before, and the time before that one. And I also remember the violet mushrooms which caused me nausea for two whole weeks! Not to mention your green soup, which looked orange after I had to throw it up again!"

Yes, she was still really pissed because her sensei used her to discover the limits of her cooking. Her sensei was interested in cooking… something was totally wrong there… They always went out to get some food, but since one or two months Tsunade tried to cook… and failed miserably.

Not that it was that big of a problem. They were both medic-nins. Tsunade was the best all over the Elemental Countries and herself as her apprentice for over five years now. They could easily deal with a little nausea, but it didn't remove the pain they felt or the awkward feeling in their stomachs.

In the beginning the blonde kept saying, that all of that cooking would help her with her studies, but Shizune knew her sensei. There was that tone in her voice, the hesitant look in her eyes, and the rush her hands moved… The blonde _lied_.

"If you insist, but it won't help your training. And do not forget, your food wasn't any better this morning!" Tsunade said reminding her apprentice of the burned eggs, which hadn't tasted that good any more. Even though the older woman hadn't said anything, she knew that she had been a little sick afterwards.

After putting the groceries on the table, Shizune noticed how the room looked- like a mess. Shogi pawns, pillows, and other stuff covered the floor. Did a blizzard fly through here?

"Did you have fun?" She asked, while looking at a stuffed bear next to the couch. Shizune did not like him, so she just kicked it out off the way.

She didn't notice her sensei becoming pale.

"What did you do in here? It looks like a tornado blew through. You could at least keep it neat and clean if you stay home all day, sensei."

She heard a nervous laugh, but didn't turn around. Maybe she should ask her sensei's teammates for a little advice. They could help her to make sense of Tsunade's weird behavior… But they were both guys with really bad social contacts _and_ social behavior… Damn. Scratch that, it looked like she was on her own…

Why was none of the Sannin just a little bit more normal? Jiraiya was the worst pervert through all the Elemental Countries and Orochimaru a weird scientist. He was said to research death itself.

"How do you mean that?" Tsunade asked. Shizune looked at her confused.

"Pardon?" She tried to recall what they were speaking about- something about the cooking and then the messy room. What did the blonde mean?

The older woman watched her for a while, before stretching, and walking to the bags with the groceries. "Never mind, did you buy some more sake?"

"Yes, it's lying on the bottom, next to the soy sauce," she answered back, while putting some herbs to their medic equipment.

Shizune couldn't help but watching her sensei. She looked at her favorite drink like it was something high explosive. Never before had the blonde just _looked_ at the alcohol. After all that she had lost in the last wars, she always tried to drink her worries away. After a moment of though, Tsunade returned the bottles into the bag, sighing.

"Do you think Ero would like it? Or should we just bring it back to the store?"

In that moment, all possible worries seemed to strangle the teenager. Shizune didn't know what to say. She didn't notice that some of the herbs fell onto the floor. She didn't notice that she stood up. She didn't notice _anything_ and expected the _worst_.

Was her sensei close to dying?

She tried to study the blonde. Even thought, the older woman tried to hide it, her eyes looked red… Did she cry? Why? Was she really about to-

After some moments of silence, Tsunade looked up, because she felt something just being wrong. Confused eyes met more confused eyes.

"Shizune? Are you still with me?" The blonde reached out to shake her stunned apprentice, but stopped and seemed to bite her lip.

"Sensei, are you…" She watched her sensei, scared. If Tsunade were to be sick and unable to heal herself- she didn't even want to think about the meanings of all this! She looked away from the blonde.

"Wait. What are you thinking of, Shizune?"

Shizune's eyes started to tear up a little, all rules of a kunoichi forgotten. She didn't want to lose her sensei. No! Not after losing her parents and then her uncle. She could just be grateful for the blonde woman to take her in, after all her relatives declined, because of the ongoing war.

"I don't want to lose you," she managed to say between some sobs. But her sensei just started to smile. It was a warm and gentle smile. It was a smile that died good six years ago together with her uncle Dan… But now? It was there, on her sensei's face, mixed with a new hope…

"Lose me? Why would that be? Don't tell me you got into gambling and bet on my life or something like that, kohai?" The black haired teenager didn't know what to say any more. She just starred at her sensei and felt a little ashamed to start crying so fast. She listened to what the older woman said ignoring the fact that she wasn't supposed to overhear it.

_And I thought I would be the emotional confused one… No, cannot tell her that way… and if she… well, she will know soon enough… and what if…_Tsunade thought.

"Okay," her sensei finally started to say "I need you to do something for me… please," she guided her apprentice into the sleeping area, sat down, and signed for Shizune to join her. What she did, slowly and carefully, like she expected the room to explode as soon as she moved to fast.

Tsunade took Shizune's hand and put it on her own abdomen. Taking a deep breath she let some of her healing chakra run through them. As the black haired teenager understood, she let her own chakra flow through them.

Her eyes widened in surprise.

"Well, we are going to move closer to Konoha tomorrow" Tsunade smiled, knowing that the younger one wanted to visit their home since years, but she didn't to stay with her sensei. "Do you prefer to be a nee-chan or a baa-chan?"

A smile spread over Shizune features, before she hugged her sensei happily.

**OMG! Thank you for all the favorites I got till now! ^o^**

**I am like totally stunned. I would have never guessed that there would be so many people out there to read my story, even though only three did write a review. **

**So, I also want to thank Rixxell Stryfe, god of all, and bloodlinenaruto!**

**ARIGATO!**

**Please leave a review, everybody ^.^**

**PS I have no beta-reader for this story, if somebody is interested, please PM me. Thanks again!**


	3. Back to Konoha

_Chapter 2: Back to Konoha_

Shizune was happy. No, she was more than happy. She didn't remember the last time she was so overjoyed. She wanted to jump around, sing the weirdest songs to the villagers, and do some of the craziest things in the world. She would be an auntie pretty soon!

One month ago, Tsunade told her about her baby and that Minato, Minato the Hokage, the one and only_ Yellow Flash_ who killed nearly a whole Iwa-nin army by himself, who was like ten years younger than her sensei, was the kid's father! Shizune still remembered how speechless she was. She would have never_ ever_ expected_ that_! It was like, Jiraiya-sama stopping to peek on bathhouses or like said Iwa-nins hugging the young Hokage…

After the blonde woman told her everything, they went back to Konoha. Minato didn't want anybody from the other villages to know about his baby and Tsunade didn't want anybody from Konoha to know about it, so they did everything concerning the child in secret and came up with a deal. Both women were to come to Konoha, because that was safer, but only Shizune would be seen in the village, and they would tell only a couple of people about the child. These people were their most trusted ones, like Biwako, Tsunade's sensei for medical ninjutsu, or Kakashi, Minato's last surviving student…

The Hokage was still really scared about them. He really insisted on having some ANBU guards around the Senju compound. With her sensei as the last remaining member of the clan, and the houses behind the village, there were not many people who ever came there. But he was still too paranoid of them getting hurt… After a long discussion, three broken tables, one chair thrown through the window, and some injured ANBUs who tried to protect the Hokage, Tsunade agreed… under one condition.

She wanted her baby to not become a ninja, no matter what. She wanted him to live a civilian life and maybe also learning some medical ninjutsu, but that was it!

Shizune still remembered the hurt in her sensei's eyes, when she told Minato about that condition. She didn't want to lose somebody important to her ever again. And even thought, Minato looked really sad about it, he agreed, as long as their child wanted the same…

She sighed and looked through the sealing scrolls she carried in her arms, which were stuffed with weapons, food, and baby-clothes. She was the only person in the compound to go and come without raising suspicion. Everybody, who asked her, why she stayed at the compound, got her cover story.

Shizune was in Konoha, because she needed to do something for her Sensei Tsunade, who was traveling through the south of Hi no Kuni and because her old home made her too sad after her uncle's death, she stayed at her sensei's place.

With that in mind, she didn't really pay attention to her surroundings and bumped into somebody in front of her. The scrolls covered the concrete of the street, but she caught herself just in time.

"Gomenasai!" She exclaimed and bowed a little to the person in front of her.

"No, it was my fault," a male voice answered back, while he stood up and looked at her in an apologetic way.

The man in front of her was a head taller than her, with a grin, that could be described as foxy. Some scars covered the left side of his face under his dark eyes. He wore a simple chunin vest, black pants, and shinobi sandals, but Shizune couldn't help but think he was handsome…

"Here, let me help you," he said not noticing her red face as he started to collect the scrolls.

_Snap out of it!,_ Shizune ordered herself shaking her head violently and helped him.

"Arigato, Shinobi-san"

"Raido. Namiashi Raido, pleased to meet you," the brown haired chunin said, offering his hand.

"Hiru Shizune," she said and shook it.

Yeah, she already _loved_ being back in Konoha.

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><p>Minato sighed. He already used three Kagebunshin and all the paperwork on his desk seemed to double, no, <em>triple<em> itself! That was just not normal… Sometimes he cursed the day, he became Hokage… But when he saw the happy faces of the villagers or remembered just _why_ he met Tsunade…

He smiled, when he thought about these things and started to hum some nursery songs. He would be a father! His good mood seemed to infect the Kagebunshin as well, because they worked twice as fast while joining the humming.

"You seem to be really happy, Mina-kun," a voice behind his window said. Minato's smile just doubled, it seemed like he wanted to make up for stopping the joyful songs.

"Ero-sensei, just back in Konoha and you start a fight with your Hokage…" he trailed of, knowing that the older shinobi wouldn't be offended or scared in any way. They always got into these arguments when they met. It was their way of telling the other, _Welcome back at home. I missed my weird sensei/kohai._

"Hmpf, Gaki stop calling me that!" He replied, now in front of the blonde man. The Kagebunshin just shot him a glare, they tried to work. But Minato ignored his yelling and looked the older male over.

Jiraiya's white hair was still ridiculous long and tied together. His clothes, mostly dark green with a red vest, were still in order without any dirty parts, no visible scratches or injuries, and his long sealing scroll was also still tied on his back.

He nodded and reached for some back-in-the-village-forms and handed them to his old sensei.

"Anything new?" Minato asked, while giving his sensei an angry look as he was about to throw the papers away, which made the older shinobi grab a pen and write something on it with his worst handwriting while glaring back.

"Not much, Iwa still is on her toes and expects to fight with you again. They don't trust the peace. Kiri is shut down; they just started a civil war. Apparently somebody tried to kill their Mizukage and their Jinchuuriki went missing. Suna seems to be a little scared, despite our boundaries; the new Kazekage doesn't trust you." Minato just nodded, he didn't trust the Sabakuno man either. "Well, and Kumo is quiet… too quiet if you know what I mean."

The blonde just nodded again. He didn't expect a civil war in Mizu no Kuni, but it wasn't anything too threatening for Konoha. It was a little bit weird, that the Jinchuuriki disappeared… So he should maybe…

His thoughts were interrupted by Jiraiya's paper, only a few inches away from his nose. As Minato looked up, he saw his sensei grinning like a little devil. Carefully he took the white sheets and flipped through them…

Did he miss a joke or did Jiraiya just try to annoy him? Everything was filled out correctly even though it took him some time to read the bad handwriting.

He raised an eyebrow.

"Come on Mina-kun! When will you tell your old sensei, how you got our stubborn Hime-chan back to Konoha," as soon as these words left his mouth, the young Hokage sighed… four times. The blonde looked at the work the Kagebunshin had done, before he dissolved them, knowing that they wouldn't work while he would try to explain everything to his sensei.

Yes, it had been wishful thinking to believe Jiraiya wouldn't notice that his old teammate was back in the village. He wasn't Konoha's spymaster for nothing not to mention all the researches for his newest book…

"Please, close the window and activate the private seals next to the door, sensei," he said with the authority of the Fourth Hokage. He would have to give the man some information, not just because of his position in the village...

Since his parents died, when he was still in the Ninja Academy, Jiraiya was like a father to him… The older perverted male meant a lot to the young blonde and if he were to become the father, why shouldn't his sensei become something similar to a grandfather? Sure, Tsu-chan wouldn't be that happy about a pervert being close to their child, but he trusted the white haired man more than himself at times.

As Jiraiya came back, finished with his _tasks_, he raised an eyebrow silently telling Minato that it better had to be something interesting. Silently, Minato was wondering if he would be as shocked as his student was. The poor ANBU captain couldn't differ right from left after he told him…

"Okay," the young Hokage took a deep breath before deciding to test if he could shock a Sannin speechless. Speaking faster than his Hirashin Jutsu would allow, he told the older male "Long story short… "

Silence was the first thing that filled the room. Well, after the sound of Jiraiya's yaw hitting the floor. His sensei's eyes were as big as plates watching the blonde shocked. It took him some minutes to regain his calm… and to close his yaw.

And yes, he looked more shocked than his student… Or maybe it was only because his sensei didn't wear a mask…

"You and Hime-chan…?" Minato nodded, "Wow… I always thought it would be you and a certain redhead… I never would have imagined…" He shook his head, "Not that I am against it, it's just…"

"Surprising?" The young Hokage tried to help out, Jiraiya just nodded.

When the Sannin were all younger, a certain white haired boy always tried to hit on Konoha's Slug Princess. But he stopped that long ago, they were just friends now. He was surprised that Minato succeeded how he put it, where he always got a good slap…

"Well, congratulations? Is that the reason why our Hime-chan is back in Konoha?" He tried to defeat his shock; he was a damn Sannin for Kami's sake!

"You could put it like that," the blonde answered, scratching his face, "Only a couple of people know, though… That's why I am wondering how you knew, she was here?"

"Her apprentice," his sensei said in a matter of fact tone and just sat down in the chair in front of Minato's desk, "After… after Dan's death she never let Shizune alone. She always feared her _niece_ would be attacked by Kumo-nins or got caught in _Konoha's Web of Fights_. She wouldn't let her come back alone."

"And you just saw Shizune in the village, by accident?" Minato asked to make sure.

"Yes, the little girl grew well, you know? The right curves and-" He was stopped by the blonde's _Killing Intent_ floating the room. Well, now he remembered why he lost all their fights in the last couple of years…

"You know what, sensei? I thought you would behave. But, please, if you do as much as corrupt a single thought of my soon to be born child or act perverted around this child's family, I will personally see to your punishment. Did I make myself clear?"

Jiraiya knew all love and good memories wouldn't help to stop the soon becoming father from killing him. So he did the best thing he possibly could and just nodded without peeing in his pants. He felt sorry for the child- an overprotective father with a whole country backing said man up and a most likely also overprotective mother, with more toxins behind her back then sand corns in the Suna Desert and an inhuman strength… Hopefully, the kid would learn how to deal with them, without getting them to panic… and probably starting a war…

"Excellent! I didn't ask Tsu-chan yet, but would you like to become the child's godfather?" Minato asked, now smiling again. Jiraiya just nodded, before registering the words.

_He, Jiraiya? A godfather? _

"I would gladly accept, Mina-kun. I promise I will keep my perverse ways away from him or her. And I will teach the child all I know!"

The older male was so excited, he didn't notice the Hokage sighing, standing up, and looking out of the window into the village, away from his sensei, until he felt an uneasy feeling.

"There would be a little problem for the last thing," Minato admitted without turning around.

"Yeah, first you will have to stop Hime-chan from throwing me out of her house, before I even can come in," he joked. Honestly, _he_ didn't see any problems with that.

"Well, I kinda promised Tsu-chan to not train our child as a shinobi, until he or she wanted that because of his own free will… She does not want to lose our child to any upcoming wars…" The Yellow Flash sighed, even though he promised Tsunade to not train their child, he couldn't stop but feel that it was… wrong?

Jiraiya couldn't help but notice the atmosphere in the room becoming more and more depressed. Why did the blonde always had to hold onto the kind of promises that would hurt him in the process? He did so as he was a genin, as he was a chunin, as he became a damn jonin! He sighed before standing up and stepping behind the Hokage.

"Well, it doesn't matter if it's going to be a boy or a girl, your child will have both of your fighting spirits. So, don't think you could stop that little kid from exploring the world on his own and I am sure that little one will come to you one day asking to learn your Hirashin Jutsu!"

Minato couldn't help but smile at those words. No matter what would happen, he would do all he could to help _his little one_.

* * *

><p>Hatake Kakashi was a young shinobi with only fourteen years of age. His gravity defining silver hair was always visible from behind his ANBU mask, he was always late for any and everything, and every time he got bored you could see him reading an orange book for grown-ups only... He didn't look like much but none the less - he was Konoha's ANBU captain. He was a great shinobi also known as Kakashi of the Sharingan or the Copy Cat. He even had a whole page in the bingo-book all for him alone! His head was worth some million Ryo…<p>

But apparently a shocking truth could defeat the best shinobi… He still couldn't really believe his sensei's words… and his _mission_.

He looked down to the two women sitting in front of him on the wooden terrace of the Senju compound. One of them was very familiar to him, Sarutobi Biwako. She was one of the first medic-nins of Konoha and still in charge of the hospital with her fifty-six years of age. Furthermore the older woman was the wife of the Third Hokage.

The other woman and Kakashi's _mission_, as he called it, was none other than Tsunade Senju, one of the famous Sannin and the best medic-nin through all the Elemental Countries… and now a pregnant and even more dangerous kunoichi.

And that was the reason, why he hang upside down from a tree, covered in ninja wire… Who knew that pregnant woman could be offended so fast? Well, the Slug Princess was known to be stubborn and hot-tempered, but he just raised an eyebrow, while watching her eat a chocolate-pickle-egg sandwich, he didn't even say one thing! And he wore a goddamn mask!

The hung shinobi thanked the older woman silently for the umpteenth time. If Biwako hadn't been around, Tsunade would have used him as a practice dummy too…

"And what did Asuma-kun do?" The blonde asked her sensei, Kakashi tried to not sigh or look bored, that wouldn't end well… And if the two women enjoyed talking about their kids, who was _he_ to interrupt them and ask to be freed from the wire?

"He blushed so hard!" Biwako laughed so hard, her whole body shook, "He had no clue that Asumi-chan was his brother's girlfriend. And as Kono-kun came back and introduced them, his eyes were in the size of plates!"

"Why didn't you warn Asuma-kun? It would have saved him a lot of trouble," Tsunade asked, laughing nearly as hard as the older woman.

"Ha! And then what? Kids have to learn from their mistakes. Let me tell you one thing, if you do everything for your children, they won't be able to do it by themselves! Look, kohai, don't help them all the time and I am sure they won't act stupid again or make the same mistakes twice," Biwako took a cup of tea standing between the women and drank a little bit, "I know it's difficult and it sure as hell will be difficult, but you need to trust your little one. The child will come to you, when it needs help, don't worry about that."

The blonde just nodded, she would do her best and more to give her kid a comfortable and peaceful life. She would do everything she could…

That was her promise. One she would never even consider to break.

**Thanks for all of the faves! *happy***

**The next chapter will be about Naruto's birth. I have it nearly worked out, but I am still looking for any spelling mistakes etc. **

**So, if anybody wants to help me out with that, he/she is welcomed! Please PM me ^o^**

**Also I was asked if Naruto will be with Kushina. Kushina will play a part of Narutos' life later on, but she won't be that important to him.**

**Please review!**


	4. The Tenth of October

_Chapter 3: The Tenth of October_

"DAMN! IF THIS IS OVER, I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU! GOT THAT, MINATO?"

Said blonde just sat next to the mother of his soon to be born son and nodded in pain. He felt like his hand was broken in a million different places. Now he knew how his sensei felt, after being punched through some walls and fences by his Tsu-chan…

After Jiraiya came back to Konoha about seven months ago, Tsunade wanted to send him back into _'the hell he arose from'_. But after a freed Kakashi, whose clothes were colored pink for seemingly no reason, a calmed down pregnant woman, and some weird looking food made by said blonde, life went on as normal as possible…

…which meant, as crazy as possible.

Biwako and Shizune did the medical check-ups for Tsunade, who agreed on Jiraiya becoming the godfather for her child if he would do some babysitting _without_ corrupting him. Kakashi learned how to treat a pregnant woman, _without_ being a target for the Sannin's bad moods alas to stay the hell out of her way. And as for Minato, he did his best in his office to keep the peace between the nations _without_ staying at the Hokage Tower till midnight... When Biwako told them, without a shadow of a doubt, that their child would be a little boy, Minato felt like singing it to the whole world. Everything was perfect… well, if you ignored all the arguments about the child's name.

They still hadn't decided whether to call him Nawaki, Uzushio or Arashi. But at least Shizune got a pet some months later and could name it TonTon, so she couldn't name the new baby like… _that_. Even though it sounded kind of cute, nobody wanted to call… a kid… _this_…

Said pet was a little pig, a gift from her new boyfriend, Raido-san. When Minato discovered their relationship, he couldn't stop but feel happy for his new _niece_. Yes, now he had one huge family.

"DAMN YOU, HURRY BRAT!"

He smiled painfully and tried to resist the urge to scratch his hurting ears. His family was just about to get bigger. He would endure all the pain that came with it, no matter what. The Sannin just _squeezed_ his hand, while his Tsu-chan seemed to be in much more pain. She went in labor at about noon time. And now the sun was already beginning to set.

"Get the towel ready. I can already see the head" Biwako told Shizune, who was followed by an oinking TonTon, wherever she went.

"Hai"

"I know you can do it, Tsu-chan. Don't you worry, everything's fine" Minato tried to comfort her again. In the last hours, when she wasn't swearing at him or the unborn child, she voiced her fears of their child being born dead or having just one arm. When Minato asked her, why she was that scared, she always looked away. Something seemed to scare her…

"Sensei!" Kakashi cried out, before the ANBU captain came running inside, the Hokage knew, just by looking at his face, that something was totally wrong and tensed. "Unknown persons were spotted close by and-"

Before he could finish a mass of sinister chakra washed over them. It felt like gravity was five times stronger than usually and everybody stopped dead in their tracks. Minato tried to make out where it was coming from, when he noticed that the chakra signatures of the ANBUs outside seemed to vanish.

Just when he was about to order Kakashi to go and warn their village, a tail as big as a river destroyed the ceiling and came crushing down, trying to destroy everybody and everything in the room.

Minato didn't think. He just did what crossed his mind first. Grabbing a hold of Shizune, who stood next to him and TonTon who hugged her leg in fear, he used the Hiraishin Jutsu and teleported them out of the house to the other side of the village into one of the safe houses, just as Biwako was hit by the huge tail and her blood spattered on them.

"Biwako-sensei…" Tsunade said silently. She still saw the shocked face of her sensei and all the blood before a wave of pain hit her and knocked her unconscious. The hand which she used to hold onto Minato loosened.

"Sensei," before he could say anything, Shizune was by her side and let green chakra flow into her sensei's body, "They will be all right. Is this place safe?"

"The safest I can think of," the Hokage replied while he tried to figure out, what just happened. He had to leave and protect the village. But at the same time, he didn't want to leave the women all alone and he also wasn't sure whether he really just felt _her_ chakra back in the compound or not…

Shizune just nodded. She took a deep breath and went to help the unborn child out of the blonde woman. Before he could decide, crying filled the room. He felt something wet running down his cheeks, but he ignored it. He kissed Tsunade on her forehead. Afterwards he took his child from Shizune, before doing the same with their son and handing him back to the young medic-nin. He still had a job to do as Hokage of Konoha.

"Please, take care of them," he said silently before disappearing.

_Arigato, Tsu-chan_

* * *

><p>Kakashi sat on one of the trees surrounding the Senju compound. His sensei had gone inside about six hours ago. But before he did, he had given Kakashi the mission to send about two dozen ANBUs to surround the area, without telling them of Tsunade and her condition of course.<p>

The ANBU captain sighed. Now they were sitting here, in the trees and it looked like it would start to rain any minute. Great, not that he wouldn't be used to bad mission conditions, but he felt like the blonde was a little too dramatic…

Just then one of the other ANBU contacted him over the radio.

"Eagle speaking- two unknown persons discovered in sector three, north-west. They head towards your position. Awaiting orders" Kakashi didn't need to think long about it. The Senju compound was after all close to the north gate of Konoha.

"Contact them and guide them to the village if they don't prove to be a threat," he replied bored.

"Understood," the emotionless voice answered back.

Kakashi sighed again. Sometimes he felt like the other ANBU wouldn't be able to do anything without him. It was standard procedure to check the people coming to the village. They were just like a scout or any other gate guards right now.

His radio clicked, and then, it fell silent again.

His body tensed.

"Dog speaking- answer Eagle!" He counted to five, before speaking again, "Dog speaking- Ox take Sparrow, Mouse, and Shark with you and head toward Eagle's location."

"Understood," a deep voice replied.

He looked over to the Senju compound and came to think more about its location to the village. Yes, it was close to one of Konoha's gates, but it was too far away from the road… It was unlikely to expect any complications here or even today… Did his sensei expect or even feared that something like this would happen? Was that the reason for the ANBUs?

Jiraiya was supposed to function as one of the look outs for Tsunade and Minato together with his unit today, but he still wasn't back from Ame… and now the blonde Sannin went three days too early into labor.

"Dog, we have a problem. The strangers are- AAAHHHHHH!" The silver-haired man jumped down from the tree while speaking into the radio. He didn't even try to sound emotionless like he was supposed to.

"All units, you are to eliminate the strangers at once!" He didn't wait for the replies. He was already on his way to his sensei. Kakashi was the only one from the ANBUs who was able to get inside and also the only one, who knew about Tsunade, not to mention her _condition_. He had to act now and _fast_.

"Sensei!" he screamed while running down the hallway, before he even reached one of the living rooms changed into a medical support station, "Unknown persons were spotted close by and-"

Before he could finish his sentence, he felt like something tried to crush him to death mentally. What kind of chakra was this? It felt like it came straight from hell… or worse.

Then, in a matter of seconds, he felt the chakra signatures of his other ANBUs vanishing outside… wait. Outside? But that meant some of the oldest seals on the compound were broken. Did somebody get inside?

Then his instincts took over. He jumped backwards out of the room, just as something big, long, red, and very furry crushed through the ceiling. He only escaped that huge thing by mere inches. But what he saw before, he would probably never forget. The look in the Hokage's blue eyes- it was surprise and confusion mixed with… fear?

The furry thing moved up and Kakashi could see what it was - a tail, one of not one, but _nine_ tails belonging to one oversized _fox_… a fox, which looked directly into his eyes. Its green eyes were mixed with something red that spun in them like it wanted to conquer them. He thought he was dreaming and resisted the urge to rub his eyes only, because he was too scared to move.

_What kind of demon was that thing? It couldn't be the Kyuubi, could it? Kyuubi died within Mito-sama, right?_

All those questions run through his mind in a matter of seconds. He wasn't sure what to do with that evil monster in front of him. For crying out loud, that fox was three times bigger than the Hokage Monument! He had not the slightest clue how it could have surprised them…

The red seemed to kill all the green in the demon's eyes. It looked like the fox had his own sharingan. As soon as his eyes were filed with the heinous red, it turned away, in the direction of the village.

It took Kakashi some seconds to regain his strength, as well as the ability to move again without trembling with fear. He checked his radio, while he slowly stood back up.

"Dog speaking. Reply when injured."

He waited some seconds. Nobody answered back. He took a deep breath, before speaking again.

"Dog speaking. Reply when alive."

He waited again, only to receive no answers. He was on his own.

Kakashi went back to the room he nearly entered a minute ago. He wasn't sure what to expect. Sure, he fought in the last Great Shinobi War… but back then, the enemy didn't have this kind of KI, or a frigging tail which destroyed part of the seal protected compound in the matter of seconds!

He took a step in the now destroyed room. A minute ago, there had been beautiful furniture, a minute ago, there had been orange colored walls, a minute ago, there had been a white ceiling! Now there were holes in the walls and the ceiling covered the floor and a body.

As fast as he could, the last ANBU went over to the remains of Biwako Sarutobi. He wouldn't have to check the pulse; her head was chopped off by the lamp that came down together with the ceiling. He was just relieved that he didn't find any other bodies there too. His sensei was able to teleport them away in time.

It was then that a chakra signature appeared behind him. He didn't need to turn around to figure out, whose it was. He knew his sensei.

"Kakashi, are you all right? Can you walk?" Minato's voice asked silently, but said man only nodded in response, before they jumped up into the trees in the direction of the village. "What did you see?"

Now he had his student's full attention. The ANBU captain looked back at all the damage that was done to the compound and the surrounding forest, "A monster, it looked like a fox… with nine tails. It was a demon that-"

"Stop" Minato interrupted him, silent but decisive, "Do not say something, you could regret later."

Kakashi just blinked in surprise. Not that anybody would have seen it. He still wore his masks, both of them. Why did his sensei seem to… _protect_ that monster? He wanted to ask the blonde, but he didn't dare…

"Did she act weird?" The Hokage's voice was so quiet, Kakashi nearly missed it. He wanted to snap at him. Ask him, if it would be weird to crush some houses with only the help of a tail. But as he looked into his blue eyes, he noticed the blonde's worry in them.

"The eyes, they looked green at first, but then they changed into… sharingans, I think." Just then he noticed that the Hokage had referred to that monster as a _she_?

The Hokage stopped at once, clear fear in his eyes. He didn't even try to cover it, before he inhaled deeply.

"Kakashi, go to the village and try to keep the damage as low as you can until I get there. When I am done with Kura - when I am done with the Kyuubi, I beg you to come as fast as you can and take my son to Tsunade. Don't tell anybody about his existence, not even Hiruzen-san. It will be his mother's choice to reveal his existence to Konoha or anybody in general."

Kakashi just blinked, what did his father figure want to do?

"Sensei…?"

"Just hurry!"

That was the only answer he received to all of his questions. And the last words of his sensei he heard, before he vanished… forever.

* * *

><p>Minato appeared next to Shizune, who tried to calm down his crying son. Gently, Minato took him from his surprised niece. Just then he remembered his sensei's new book.<p>

"Naruto is a good name, don't you think?" He asked silently, while grabbing a scroll, brush, and some ink from a table at the wall. The teenager watched him confused. He was already back again? What had happened? Was everybody all right?

But she wasn't brave enough to ask all these questions…

So, she just decided to watch him as he drew some seals on the paper, as well as on his son's belly. The small baby just giggled, either he liked his new name or he enjoyed the tickling feeling of the brush… "Jiraiya used that name in one of his books… I wish for... for Naruto to be so kindhearted and strong, like that shinobi in his book"

He tried to keep talking to stay calm and to don't freak out, because of the burden. The burden he was about to put on his just born son. But the young woman didn't miss it.

"What are you doing, Minato-san?" Shizune asked. She wasn't sure what to think about her new little nephew being colored. Even though, she couldn't help but liking the new name… Naruto, it sounded cute.

But he just closed the scroll, before pushing chakra through it, and handed it carefully to her.

"Please, listen carefully, Shizune-chan. You need to take care of the scroll and give it Tsunade-chan. She needs to keep it safe until its…" He shook his head, as if he tried to forgot something painful "I won't come back. Kakashi will bring Naruto back to you. I worked on the Jutsu I am about to use. Ero-sensei helped me too. You need to ask him about the _Ni-Kumo no Fuin no Jutsu_, he can give you all the information about it and also about Kurama. And please tell, Tsu-chan that I love her." He looked to the bed, where his favorite Sannin laid.

_I am sorry_, he mouthed, before he vanished.

Shizune just blinked. _What was that about?_

**Well, next chapter will be about little Naruto, his growing-up, and one of Tsunade's old friends... ^^**

**And I am still looking for a beta-reader. If you are interested, pease PM me **

**However, if you don't like my story or you are just annoyed, that won't write about you favourite pairing- please just leave me and my story alone .**

**I am very happy about all the reviews and favorites I receive and I am really thankful to all of you, but if you write a comment just to show how much you hate my story- screw you .**


	5. An Old Friend

9

Chapter 4: An Old Friend

"Okay, Naru-chan. Try to read it again." Shizune said with forced calm. No matter what she tried to do, her otouto didn't seem to care about learning anything! She already had to blackmail him with some dangos, but any more and her sensei would notice and get angry… again.

The little blond boy in front of her gave her an annoyed look, which just looked adorable with the whisker marks in his face and the fact that children in the age of only four years just could _not_ glare or look angry in her opinion. TonTon sat next to her and just oinked, which sounded like an encouragement.

"But it's so boring, onee-chan. I don't wanna!" He threw his arms up and seemed to be ready to run away, if the young medic-nin couldn't give him a good reason for reading a text about herbs for the third time in a row now.

Just as she was about to say something, her sensei entered the kitchen they were sitting in. She looked like she had just woken up… and it was passed noon time. Tsunades' eyes scanned the room, looking for the other Sannin, the perverted one… She raised an eyebrow in her kohai's direction, asking a silent question.

With a sigh Shizune ignored her otouto running off to play outside, TonTon hot on his heels playing babysitter, while she stood up. "Jiraiya-sama left early this morning. He said he would have to be back in Konoha as soon as possible, it seemed to be urgent…"

The blonde medic-nin just nodded and prepared some tea. After her son's birth they left Konoha before the sun could even rise for the eleventh of October. They went to Kawa no Kuni and hid there, only to be found a week later by Jiraiya. At first the famous Slug Princess wanted to kill him. She made him responsible for Minatos' death as well as her sons' name and burden.

The only three reasons for him being alive, were thanks to her little son: he was his damn godfather, he could tell her about the seal, and she wasn't sure what to do with his corpse... After all, she didn't want to get into trouble with her sensei, who was back into office as Hokage and would certainly find out about her little critter…

The white-haired Sannin tried to explain the seal to them. But with both of the medic-nin having no grasp of Fuin Jutsu, he had to make it as easy as possible:

The Kyuubi, Kurama was a mass of chakra with its own conscious. Meaning, you could seal it away in alive objects only. You could even use different beings and they would be able to have a very strong connection to each other.

If you would seal it into only one person, it was possible, that's the sacrifice would die, but with two you could balance them out. It would be like yin and yang. One of these sacrifices was Naruto, the other one would still have to be made. Naruto was a newborn at the time of the attack and perfect for the sealing, while the other part was transferred into the scroll Shizune had to take care that fateful night. Minato even pushed some of his last life force into the scroll, so that the second sealing wouldn't need a soul to be made, like it took his own to make sure Narutos' seal would function well…

After Jiraiya discussed the meaning of the seals with Tsunade for what felt like hours, she made sure, he would feel the hell of lot regret for helping the Yondaime to even create this technique. But after Kurama didn't seem to be able to influence her Naru-chan, she hid the scroll and got over it… meaning: she went out to gamble and drink.

Jiraiya decided to come and leave like he pleased, while they moved around in the small countries. Right now they were in a really small village in Taki no Kuni, all the time earning money with healing people...

"You don't have to teach him, Shizune," Tsunade reminded the younger woman. They already had a big argument about it. The blonde didn't care that her son was a Jinchuuriki, she wanted her son to not learn anything connected with _shinobis_; she just wanted for her son to have a normal live as a civilian.

"Sensei, a normal boy needs to learn how to read, write, and calculate as well, so he-"

"But he's only four! No child in their right mind should try to learn that hard, like you make him do," Shizune looked back at Tsunade with hurt in her eyes. She picked up the books on the table.

"_You_ should at least try to act normal, if _you_ want him to be that normal. _You_ are his mother; _you_ shouldn't go out and drink yourself unconscious."

With that the young medic-nin left the kitchen and got ready to visit Yuki-san, a woman in this village, who complained about her hurting stomach…

* * *

><p>It was easy for Naruto to leave the kitchen and go into the backyard unnoticed, he <em>thought.<em> Alright, TonTon followed him every time he left the house, but that was how things were and he really enjoyed the company of the little pig.

While most of the children he met, laughed at this, he ignored them. TonTon was like a playmate, which stayed in his young, always changing life. In his four years of age, he remembered staying in about two dozen different villages and he was sure, he'd been in even more!

The little house they rented for their stay was close to a forest. For the last couple of weeks, Naruto always tried to discover different parts of it. It was like a game with the little pig. They would look through the forest together and then play hide-n-seek or tag.

"Look TonTon!" Naruto said as he found a really awkward grown tree. It looked like the braided hair of the girls in the village. TonTon just oinked at this, while he laughed at it.

Together they looked at more trees, which Naruto always compared to different things, like his kaa-chans' sake or a man fighting with a cat. He picked up a little nut, threw it into the air, and caught it again. Smiling and running, while he did so, before he came to a halt under a huge pine.

He sat done in the shade and stretched. TonTon watched him a second, before doing the same.

"TonTon? Do you know what Ero-sennin said yesterday?" Naruto asked. But the little pig just oinked in a negative way. "He told me stories about great-grandpa Hashirama. He was really awesome! Did you know that he could grow trees in the blink of an eye? Massive, huge, gigantic trees!"

His little blue orbs seemed to shine even brighter than usual. He was so excited, like a little kid that just got five big birthday presents at once! But then his smile faded away.

"I wonder if I can do that, but what if kaa-chan's getting angry?" He stared at his hands.

Tsunade wasn't pleased with his godfather always telling her son of legendary shinobis or fights. She still insisted on Minatos' promise. Naruto wouldn't be trained as a ninja unless he really wanted to. But she feared that her little boy would be more and more interested in becoming one of these shinobis if her old teammate kept telling him all of their stories!

There weren't the awesome, heroic, and happy situations in a shinobi life… but also fighting, dead comrades, dead friends, dead families…

So, every time she noticed the pervert starting such an act, she sent him over the village via fist.

TonTon sat next to the little child. She pressed her nose against Narutos' hand with the nut. She was hungry. But Naruto misunderstood his little friend and thought she was nagging him to try to grow it anyways.

The young blonde put the nut on the ground and with no clue what to do, he hold his hand over it and concentrated. He wanted that nut to spread roots and start to grow into a tree. His entire mind was focused on this one task. He tried to do not think about anything else but said brown nut.

However, as he moved his hand away in anticipation, the nut hadn't changed a bit. It had the same tawny color to it, with some brown dots on it. It didn't even grow or got a dickey shell.

He wanted to try it again, but felt weird. It was like somebody watched him, but he didn't know who or where from. It was a nagging feeling in his gut, one of those, you couldn't ignore… Like the little voice in your head, that made you lie, when your parents were mad with you. It was like a voice of instinct…?

"Well, looks like I can't do it," he said quietly, before standing up and running away.

TonTon smelled at the small seed in wonder, before following the little boy. They didn't notice the green leaf that moved out of the nut towards the sunlight. However, the person hidden about 14 feet high above them in the pine did.

* * *

><p>Tsunade was bored out of her mind. She went grocery shopping, cleaned up the house, and did the damn laundry, while trying to do <em>not<em> act like a kunoichi. She tried to stay calm, when her Naru-kun wasn't back in the late afternoon and looked for anything else to be done in the house to pass the time with.

As she scrubbed a cup for over fifteen minutes, Shizune who came home about an hour prior decided to speak up.

"I think it's clean"

A loud crack was heard and they had one cup less.

"Where is he? If he got himself hurt, I swear, I will…" Right at this moment somebody knocked at the door and the Sannin froze, before running toward the door and throwing it open, only to freeze there again.

In front of her stood her old teammate, not the perverted Jiraiya, but the crazy Orochimaru. If it would be just him, then she may have been able to deal with the sight, but next to him stood a happy Naruto caring a tired TonTon, while his smile seemed bigger than his face!

"…it was really awesome! How you kicked him through three trees! Not to mention the look on their faces!"

The Snake Sannin _laughed_ at this. Tsunade blinked, yes her old teammate stood in front of her and had _laughed_… That was the _first time_ she had seen that scientist…. _happy_? Then he turned to a very stunned and speechless Tsunade. Said blonde didn't know if she was still awake. Well, she had had a crush on the dark haired shinobi, since they had fought in Ame, but she got over it… she thought. Truth to be told, seeing her son being happy next to her old teammate, while she always knew, that the little blonde was missing a father role in his life – Jiraiya did _not_ count in her opinion – was like a dream coming true.

But on the other hand, she still remembered the rumors about his missing apprentice, Gai Tsuyoku. Who was said to have acted weird, since he received some special training from the man in front of her. And her instinct warned her as well, but a woman who always lost dozen of bets because of her so called _instinct_, ignored that pretty fast…

"Orochimaru-kun… What are you doing here?"

"Tsunade-chan…"

Little Naruto felt left out. He stood between the adults with TonTon in his arms. He looked from one to the other. If they knew each other, why did they just stay silent? Weren't people supposed to talk with each other if they were friends?

And for the little four-year-old was everybody a friend. So, even the debt collectors, who made his Kaa-chan flee through some dozen villages were his friends… Although, you might want to add that he had his favorite people as well. And try to explain to a little boy, what an enemy was… It wouldn't really work out. Kids didn't really understood war or hate.

"You know each other?" He asked. TonTon oinked as if sharing his question.

The medic-nin blinked, before kneeling down, "Yeah. Kaa-chan is going to speak with our guest; you go to Shizune and get ready for bed. Understood?"

He nodded enthusiastically, before running off "Hai!" and startling a sleepy Shizune in the kitchen area.

As soon as her son was out of sight, Tsunade stepped outside and closed the door behind her. She couldn't take any chances. She had to protect her son and niece, even if it meant to face her old crush… At least Tsunade knew… hoped he hadn't noticed what she had felt for him - at least not yet…

"What _exactly_ happened?" The medic-nin tried to put as much Killing Intent into her question, as possible without worrying her precious people one or two walls behind her.

"Why, why? Is that you showing gratitude to an old friend who saved your son? After not even telling said friend, that you have become a loveable mother?" he asked while raising his arms in defense.

Tsunade eyed her old teammate suspicious. Something seemed off. Well, next to the fact that he had just complimented her, what wasn't an easy feat by the Sake Sannin. She was now really happy for the late hour; the darkness would make it more difficult for him to see her face…

She took a deep breath, before looking straight back at the Konoha-nin. She had to stay calm. She wanted for her Naru-chan to have a normal life, so she needed to behave…

"That – still – does not answer my question, Orochimaru," she crossed her arms.

"I had a mission in Iwa no Kuni and was on my way back… when I noticed some bandits in the woods. They were about to attack the little kid, when I stepped in and stopped them." Tsunade raised an eyebrow, while she looked for any signs of him lying… but she found none.

Did he really just help her son and didn't ask for some Ryo? He had done it on a mission in Yu no Kuni, but they hadn't any money back then to cover all the expenses… meaning all of her debts. Naruto said something about kicking somebody… But it seemed so… wrong? The Snake Sannin never really cared for those around him. And it didn't matter if it was a young woman, old geezer or even a little infant. It wasn't his style to help some people out for the fun of it and play strong hero…

"Don't get this wrong, but why did you help my son? I don't want to sound ungrateful, but it feels a little weird… I mean, you always do something if you get something else in return."

But Orochimaru just sighed. He walked past her and sat down on one of the benches surrounding the house. He watched the sky a while before answering back and Tsunade knew, that he thought about every word…

"I probably would have ignored the little runt, but he reminded me of Minato… and you." He stared straight into her eyes and the blonde had to look away to hide her blush. "And after I was done with those filthy bastards, little Naruto was very helpful to describe his mommy and sister. He is really lively, like his mother, isn't he?" he smiled a little, before turning serious again. "By the way, are you sure that pig's not a canine? He bit into one of the attacker's legs and it seemed to hurt a lot…"

Tsunade blinked in surprise… Did that Snake mean that for real?

_Kami, how were you able to change that bastard into a seemingly _normal_ guy?_

_Whatever, arigato - domo arigato Kami-sama._

* * *

><p>When Naruto came running into the kitchen, he didn't even waste a though about slowing down. With a scarred pig in his arms he run straight for his Onee-chan and threw her to the floor grinning like a madman.<p>

"Naruto! What was that about?" Shizune cried out, while TonTon just oinked like crazy, until she was released from the little blond whirlwind.

"I'm gonna be a shinobi! Just you watch me, Onee-chan. I'm gonna learn everything you throw at me, believe it!" He jumped down from his big sister and run off to the bedrooms, the medic-nin hot on his heels.

But he still had a big head start for a little child and as she finally caught up with him, he had already started to switch into his pajamas - smiling like he was crazy, while he wore the upper part inside-out and one of the blankets like a cape. TonTon sat next to him and chewed on one of the pillows.

Well, at first Shizune had been ready to give her Otouto a serious talk about, what it meant to be a ninja and preparing him to face his mother with that opinion of his. But as she saw him, so sweet and innocent she reminded herself of her sensei's wish. Furthermore children changed their own dreams for the future every day, didn't they? So, why shouldn't her Otouto change that wish again?

"TonTon, let go of the pillow!" The pig dropped the feather filled sheet and jumped out of the room, fleeing from her angry master.

"Naru-kun," the little blonde looked up in wonder "shinobis wear their pajamas the right way," before she could even blink, his happy face changed into a pouting one.

"But onee-chan! This is my new ninja gear. I need to wear it, so that I am protected, and you and Kaa-chan won't have to heal me if I get into trouble," he explained to her, like it was the most oblivious thing in the Elemental Countries and she committed a crime not noticing it.

"Oh, right. I am sorry, I must still be a little bit sleepy," the medic-nin responded laughing, "But do you already want to go to bed? Aren't you hungry?"

From one second to the next his pouting changed into a huge smile and he jumped on his bed- up and down, up and down, up and down… it was like a yoyo at full speed.

"What do we eat for supper? Can we have dangos? Please? Like pretty please?"

She couldn't stop laughing at the sight in front of her. She had no clue what happened to make him that hyper, but she surely enjoyed it. "Can't do. You had dangos yesterday and it's not healthy to eat them every day, Naru-kun." Just then she noticed that her sensei hasn't come back inside, like she usually did. She would have cursed if she hadn't decided to act as an idol in front of the kid.

"Naru-kun, where is your Kaa-chan?" She asked him looking back towards the door TonTon vanished through just mere seconds ago.

"Talking to that kick-ass shinobi!" He run toward the kitchen tagging her, while passing, "You are it!"

She blinked: "Naruto, watch your language!"

* * *

><p><strong>At first: HAPPY EASTERN EVERYBODY OUT THERE! ^_^<strong>

**And also THANKIES for all the faves, alerts and the review *happy***

**I know, Tsunade and Orochimaru seem a little out of character right now, but everything has a reason ^o^**

**Please hit the review button and tell me, what you thought about it!**

**Greetings, Penny**


	6. Hidden Truth

11

Chapter 5: Hidden Truth

It had been a whole month since Orochimaru's and Tsunade's reunion. A whole month in which Naruto really learned everything his onee-chan taught him. In the beginning, the young medic-nin expected him to give up or run away from all the books, but he didn't. She couldn't help but be surprised as she found the young blonde reading, when she sent him out to play with the other kids.

However, with Orochimaru deciding to stay a while with them, Tsunade didn't say anything about Naruto's eagerness to study. Shizune wasn't even sure if the Slug Princess even noticed what her son did the whole day. But she wouldn't bring it up; it was so much easier without arguing with the blond woman every three seconds.

And Shizune couldn't help but feel happy for her sensei, when she saw her sitting together with the other Sannin and talking about the old days. Sure, she was surprised when Orochimaru decided to stay with them, but it wasn't wartime and if Jiraiya was allowed to run from Onsen to Onsen and Tsunade left Konoha for years, why shouldn't the third Sannin be allowed to leave a while longer? The Snake Sannin even said, he sent the mission report via summon to the village…

The young medic-nin smirked, when she heard soft footsteps behind her, too big to belong to her little TonTon, but too small and loud to belong to an trained shinobi. She smiled softly and continued to wash the dishes.

She heard a crack and dodged to the side. Just in time, before a little kid jumped right at the sink and hugged the empty air… the place in which Shizune stood only mere seconds ago.

"Naru-kun, did you try to sneak up on me again?" she asked him softly, "What did we say about the kitchen area?"

Carefully and really slowly the blonde turned his head to the side, looking straight into her eyes, before he nodded even more slowly.

"To not play ninja or something different physically in the kitchen or there won't be any eggs, milk, or other ingredients left for supper"

Shizune nodded. That was a perfect quote from what she told him three weeks ago… when he tried to play with TonTon _ninken_ in the house. She hadn't been sure, that you could teach a _pig_, more importantly _her_ pig, some ninken techniques, but Naruto proved her wrong. After two weeks of him arguing with said animal, he taught her how to track different items. TonTon wasn't perfect in finding them, but she did a good job in a short amount of time. It was really incredible…

"Good boy," Shizune said messing his hair up.

He ducked away and with an annoyed "Onee-chan!" hid behind the kitchen table. But the medic-nin just laughed. Who wouldn't?

However, Naruto looked through the room and seemed to search something, before he decided to look back to his bigger sister.

"Have you seen kaa-chan?" He asked, his innocent blue eyes watching every move of the woman.

Shizune had continued cleaning the dishes, but turned around faster than ever. Tsunade had left the house in the evening and told her to be back before dawn, but the sun was already up. She tried to look as normal as possible, before turning back to the sink.

"Have you looked into her room?" She questioned him.

"Yep," she heard him opening a bottle of orange juice from the table and pouring the content into a glass, "The door was open, but nobody was in there, not even Oro-san"

That wasn't really surprising. Orochimaru had been staying with the Slug Princess the whole time, like he was watching over her. _Maybe the two ended up together last night?, _Shizune thought. It wouldn't be that weird…

And even if her sensei said she would be back at dawn… Maybe the two just took their time?

"She went out, but she should be back anytime soon. What do you want to do?" The medic-nin asked her otouto. Since he was attacked by these bandits, both Tsunade and Shizune decided to not let him go alone into the forest. And that again sealed the young medic-nin's fate as full time babysitter.

"Can you give me the book about herbs again? Please?" The blonde asked using his best and biggest puppy dog eyes.

Shizune knew right then, she _shouldn't_ have turned around. She sighed, before picking up the book from one of the highest shelves in the whole house, _Medicine from Nature_. Since she had shown it to him, he was obsessed with it. She wasn't even sure why. The book just contained pictures, descriptions, and healing methods of different plants. Most of them were so rare, you would dream about seeing the plant in real life.

But the book itself was really rare too. It was said that it only existed four times. Tsunade once got it from Biwako-sama, after she healed thousand of shinobis and civilians in the last war and Shizune had only shown it to Naruto, to explain him the meaning of herbs for a medic-nin.

"You can read it in your room, not outside. And you take good care of it, got it?" She tried to look as serious as possible to bring the point across. But whether Naruto noticed or not – he just nodded, grabbed the book, and vanished out of the kitchen with a huge smile on his face.

Shizune just sighed and turned around to the sink, but stopped when her eyes caught a familiar face with silver hair around his face.

"Since when is the Gaki so eager to read? Wasn't he complaining about it just one month prior?"

"Jiraiya-sama!" She jumped. _First Orochimaru, now it's Jiraiya again… The house is becoming a station for shinobis_ "How have you been?"

Grunting he sat down at the kitchen table. She wasn't sure why, but the Toad Sennin looked like he aged centuries in the last couple of weeks. His face had lost color, all the wrinkles seemed deeper, and he had dark circles around his eyes signaling that he hadn't slept for days.

"Let's just say, that I feel worse than when I fought Hanzo. I just… I cannot believe it…" he leaned on the table. Shizune felt awkward. Here was one of Konoha's greatest shinobis in front of her and he looked ready to cry… And the worst thing for her, she had no clue what to do! Sure she was a medic-nin, but with Tsunade as her sensei, she knew she wasn't really sensible enough for comforting him.

She burned to know, what was going on, but she didn't want to make the Sannin feel even more uncomfortable. So, she just heated some water on the stove and got a cup with calming herbs ready for Jiraiya.

"Sensei should be back soon, she…"

"And she will be so furious! I mean, I was too. She thinks I don't know about her feelings – Tch!" He produced a bottle with sake out of his left sleeve and started to drink his grief away.

Shizune just turned back to the cup, took a second, and filled it with herbs that would cure a hangover - herbs, which she always had ready in the cupboard with her sensei drinking so much…

"What do you mean?" Shizune asked, not really paying attention to the silver-haired shinobi behind her or the noises coming from the hallway.

But before he was able to answer, he got tackled by a little blond tornado screaming "Ero-sennin!" louder than anybody thought possible. And just as sudden as the atmosphere in the room shifted, changed Jiraiya's attitude in front of his godson.

"Hey Gaki! You still got your mom's crazy temper, I see," he tickled Naruto and the little kid started to laugh. Shizune had been ready to lecture him again after he ran through the kitchen again, but seeing the happy faces, she just pretended that she hadn't noticed.

"Are you here to tell me the shinobi stories again? _Please?_" Naruto asked and jumped on his godfather's lap.

"You wanna hear stories, Gaki? Which one you want?" The Toad Sennin asked and all his worries seemed forgotten.

"Well, I have to clean up the kitchen, so whatever you are going to tell Naruto is not going to happen in here," Shizune replied while focusing back on the sink and the dirty dishes inside.

"Let's go into the forest, I gotta show you something" and so the young blonde took the silver-haired shinobi by his hand and dragged him towards the door, TonTon following close behind.

* * *

><p>When Tsunade woke up, she sat in a dimly lit room of an inn close to their house. She tried to remember what happened the night before, when she noticed, she was totally nude and alone. When she saw the half destroyed bed she sat in, her memory returned… bit by bit…<p>

_She started to go out to drink again, together with Orochimaru. And like the other nights, they went out to a nearby sake-bar. The owner already knew them and got them their usual orders. _

_Sake for Orochimaru, water for Tsunade, and dangos as a side dish. Some weeks ago, before she met her old teammate again, she would have started with sake right away, but after an argument with Shizune a while ago, she started to behave more. Even if she had been a mother for four years, it wasn't easy for her to be the responsible adult, she was supposed to be. _

_It was a little after midnight, that she first noticed an annoyed look from the Snake Sannin. Raising an eyebrow, she just looked at him while chewing on a dango-stick. _

"_Why don't you ever really join me?" He asked, pointing at the alcohol. _

_The blonde just shook her head: "No, thanks. What am I supposed to tell Shizune and Naru-chan in the morning?"_

_His eyes continued to watch her closely, before he just leaned back sighing and murmured something. She just raised an eyebrow again. _

"_You will need it," he replied, pouring some of the sake into his cup again._

"_And why would I?" Tsunade asked, leaning closer. She couldn't help but feel superior. After all, Orochimaru drank and _not_ her. It seemed a little bit off… Back in the days as the three Sannin, Tsunade and Jiraiya always got drunk and Orochimaru stayed away from the alcohol to keep a cool head._

"_I got a message, before we got here. Jiraiya died in Ame."_

_She fell silent. Her brain stopped working. _

_Jiraiya. He had covered Shizune, Naruto, and herself, every time they hid from debt collectors, some shinobi travelling through the small villages they lived in, and even from her sensei! He thought, she hadn't known what he always did for them… but she had. _

_The blonde grabbed her cup, not really realizing the sake, her teammate had poured into it. She started to drink again, not noticing the small smile on the Snake Sannin's face…_

_Then she started to tell him things, embarrassing things. She told him about Jiraiya's doing since Naruto's birth, about her cursed necklace, about her crush on him…_

_Then they ended up in the inn…_

She tried to shake the feeling of loneliness away. They had sex. And now she was sitting here, alone. She had no clue what time it was and she just wanted to stay in the destroyed bed… destroyed because of their strength as Orochimaru…

You _should at least try to act normal, if_ you _want him to be that normal_. You _are his mother;_ you _shouldn't go out and drink yourself unconscious._

Tsunade jumped out of the bed. Her kohai had been right. She needed stand up and go back home to be a normal mother for her Naru-chan. He wouldn't need somebody who just stayed in bed and would cry more than he did himself!

Jumping through the room, she got dressed with the clothes that she found and that weren't cut and torn into pieces. It wasn't much left. And wherever she looked, she couldn't find her slip at all.

Cursing into the room, she left some Ryo on the bed and took the bed sheet. After wrapping it around her body and checking herself in the mirror, she exited the inn through the window.

It only took her ten minutes to reach their home. Silently, she tiptoed through the kitchen, but as her bad luck would have it, Shizune just turned around and looked at her.

They stared at each other for maybe a minute, their eyes watching every movement the other made. Then her kohai grinned from ear to ear, while the blonde felt like she was standing in front of her mother and just got caught by stealing some cookies…

"Somebody got laid," Shizune sung and turned back to do her work, all the time singing something about a snake and a slug.

With a really red face, Tsunade just stormed out of the room and decided to get dressed as fast as humanly possible. Why did Shizune have to stare at her, and why so long? And the worst thing was, she felt dirty. Throwing her clothes away again, she took a quick shower and then got dressed again. While she tried to ignore the nagging feeling in the back of her head that told her something was wrong…

When she got back into the kitchen she took one of the cups with herbs against a hangover, while saying a silent thank you to Shizune. Said woman looked at her confused.

"You drank again?"

"What is it with the rhetorical question?" The blonde replied quietly and maybe a little bit too angry. She felt hurt. Minato had always stayed until she woke up again… but not Orochimaru.

"Well, this one was for Jiraiya-san," the younger woman just countered and took another cup out to prepare it for the Toad Sennin.

Tsunade froze, before she clenched her fists. Orochimaru's words from the day before echoed through her mind. _Did he lie? Or was an imposter here?_

The sound of a breaking cup made Shizune turn around. She wasn't sure, what she had expected, when she looked at her sensei… but she knew right in that moment, that she never ever had seen the blonde woman with so much anger in her face, before realization hit her face like a bomb.

"Where's Naru-chan?" Shizune took a big step away from her sensei, before pointing through the wall towards the forest. Before she could even blink, the Slug Princess hit through said wall and vanished outside.

The younger medic-nin grabbed the sink. The Killing Intent her sensei let lose, was as extreme as back in the Great Shinobi Wars and it made her tremble with more than just plain fear.

* * *

><p>Three days after Naruto had gotten attacked in the forest, he had come back. He had wondered, what had happened with the little nut, but he could not find it. Maybe he just got lost in the forest and couldn't find the nut again. Maybe it was just stolen by a little animal. Maybe some of the bandits that were chased off kicked it by accident into one of the bushes…<p>

He didn't know. And with his onee-chan, TonTon, his kaa-chan, and Oro-san watching him, he couldn't go back there. So, he did the next best thing that came to his mind and looked for another nut.

It hadn't taken him long, but he wasn't able to try to let it grow, until his onee-chan was busy checking on some of her patients. He had taken a book with him outside and started reading. When he was sure, nobody but TonTon watched him; Naruto tried to make the little nut grow again and… succeeded.

He was really happy seeing the small roots and the small green leaf coming out of the little seed. He had gaped at the little plant. But what fascinated him most, were the little roots, which seemed to move by Naruto's will.

The blonde had stared at the little plant with amazement. TonTon just watched the little green thing in his hands and smelled it.

Naruto thought about telling his onee-chan about it, but decided against it. Maybe she wouldn't believe him… It wasn't an everyday experience to let something grow. He couldn't tell his kaa-chan either, the woman would probably just freak out, and even though Oro-san was really nice, he didn't really know him.

And if Ero-sennin told him about it in the first place, Naruto should tell him about it first, shouldn't he?

And so our little blonde tornado waited. He learned, studied, tried to let nuts grow faster, helped his onee-chan, and waited… until…

"…She thinks I don't know about her feelings – Tch!"

Naruto jumped up from his bed, the book about the herbs laid forgotten at his pillow as he stormed out of his room. He noticed his onee-chan saying something, but ignored it. With a loud and happy "Ero-sennin!" he jumped right at the Toad Sennin at the kitchen table.

"Hey Gaki! You still got your mom's crazy temper, I see", the blonde had to laugh as he was tickled.

"Are you here to tell me the shinobi stories again? _Please?_" the kid asked and jumped onto Jiraiya's lap. He would need to get his godfather alone to tell him everything or his onee-chan would be angry that he had kept a secret from her…

"You wanna hear stories, Gaki? Which one you want?" The Toad Sennin asked and Naruto was about to cry out _The one about great-grandpa Hashirama and the trees!_, but he was interrupted.

"Well, I have to clean up the kitchen, so whatever you are going to tell Naruto is not going to happen in here," Shizune said and Naruto felt like Christmas, Eastern, his birthday, and all the other festivals were today!

"Let's go into the forest, I gotta show you something," he took his godfather's hand and dragged him towards the door, barely noticing TonTon following them, "Come on, come on!"

"Slowly Gaki, slowly. What is it? You are way too hyper," Jiraiya just replied. He couldn't help but feel a little bit better with the little blonde next to him. The kid looked so much like Minato with added whisker marks, something he couldn't really believe…

In the middle of a clearing the blonde stopped suddenly and if Jiraiya hadn't been a shinobi, he would have collided with the kid.

Before he could ask a question, Naruto left his side and collected some nuts. He handed them to the older male. Nervously, he scratched his wrists and took a deep breath.

"Okay, hand me one seed – and you can't tell kaa-chan yet, okay?"

Jiraiya just nodded, he expected the little kid to have come up with a childish little game again, like last time or a prank and looked through the trees for any sign of balloons filled with various colors. It wouldn't be the first time, that his hair was colored pink by the little blonde troublemaker…

Handing one of the nuts back to Naruto, he watched as the kid closed his eyes and put both hands onto the seed. He felt some of Naruto's chakra concentrate at that area and his eyes got wide. Since when did the kid know how to forge chakra?

Just then, Naruto opened his hands and showed a stunned Jiraiya a plant, a fresh little nut tree and it still grew! The Sannin looked like a fish over water trying to breath.

That was _impossible_! How could the little one reawake a bloodline that was thought to be dead? Sure he was a Senju, but only Hashirama was able to ever use the Mokuton and Tsunade tried two years to use the bloodline, always failing! Where did he get it from?

He was still shocked, when he felt an evil presence coming from behind him. Jiraiya acted as fast as he could, but as he heard his godson flinch, he knew, he had been to slow in shielding the kid behind his own body.

The Toad Sennin turned around again and saw Orochimaru, his former teammate and the one he tried to bring back to the village three weeks ago. But he never found him. Now as he did, he wished he hadn't.

The Snake Sannin's neck was abnormal long and his face showed annoyance.

"Orochimaru," Jiraiya just said, releasing all the Killing Intent he had, which the nuke-nin just countered with his own.

"Move out of the way, Jiraiya," he just said, his pupils becoming slits.

Both got ready to fight each other to the death. Jiraiya glanced at Naruto and saw an unfinished Seal under his hand on his neck. He stared at the two Sannin with eyes as huge as plates.

The Toad Sennin turned his full attention back at Orochimaru, despising his once best friend more than anything else in the world. He never wanted his godson to see his power or get caught in one of his fights, until he wasn't prepared for it.

Naruto already had a heavy burden to carry, he would never - never ever - let the man give him another one too.

"Make me," he nearly growled and the two raced at each other.

But mere inches before their fists could collide; the earth beneath them broke into pieces. They jumped away and saw a furious Tsunade. She looked first at Orochimaru, before turning to Jiraiya.

"What size is my bust?" she called out to him.

The Toad Sennin just blinked, before he looked at her upper body. Was this question for real? Shaking nervously, he answered: "106 cm"

Tsunade turned back to her old crush, releasing a Killing Intent that made Jiraiya's former one look like that of a genin.

"Then let's skin a snake."

* * *

><p><strong>Okay, the new chapter! ^o^<strong>

**A huge "Thank You" to all my readers that you keep reading my story, as well as to OrangeLamb and ForeverFallen76. I had the chapter nearly ready but no motivation to finish it for the last couple of days. Thank you for reviewing!**

**I still have no beta reader, if you are interested please PM me ^^ Arigato!**

**Then is only one thing left to say: Please review! ^o^**


	7. The Solution

**A/N: Please read the chapter to the end before jumping to conclusions. Thanks ^o^**

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><p><span>Chapter 6: The Solution<span>

Naruto watched as his kaa-chan and godfather fought against a man, who the blonde thought he could trust. His neck hurt, but he just pressed his hand onto the wound. TonTon sat next to him tearing on his shirt, before she gave up and run away.

But Naruto was too stunned to do anything. From one moment to another, there were huge animals fighting each other. A gigantic slug landed next to him and stopped the even bigger snake that headed for him. While a toad which was as big as a frigging mountain tried to behead it.

He watched the fight in horror, his eye catching his kaa-chan's jacket or his godfather's hair time and again, but never long enough, to make out anything more out. It just looked like colors flying around and crashing into the floor…

All of the sudden he felt in pain. His left shoulder and arm hurt like somebody emptied a container with acid over him. He wanted to scream, but he couldn't. The little blonde tried to stay conscious, but he knew he was failing. Blackness caught his eyes, before it slowly faded again.

Naruto blinked. He wasn't sure, if he was dreaming. But that couldn't be real, could it? In front of him was a huge gate and he felt so tiny in comparison to the cold metal. Around the metal grew some small trees. They looked ready to bloom and Naruto felt like he just had to reach out to them and they would grow however he wanted them to. As he looked up, he saw two small pieces of papers on it. They were right in the middle of the gate, where you would expect to find a keyhole.

But that wasn't the weirdest thing, it seemed pretty normal in comparison with what laid behind the gate… a gigantic fox, which could easily eat the snake, slug, _and_ toad from earlier and still be hungry.

Scared, the kid looked around, but other than the green looking walls of a sewer, he couldn't make much out. Just then he noticed the water on the floor. It was just _there_, without being _felt_. He searched for an exit, but there was none. However, it looked like there had been one behind him which was now covered in branches of various plants…

Deciding, he hadn't anything better to do, he stepped towards the gate. He looked up at the papers, trying to make out what the kanji on them said.

"_First Cloud Seal_," he read slowly, "_Bond_"

Naruto blinked. What? That didn't make any sense at all, did it?

"_Naru-chan!"_

His head flew around. Had somebody called his name? The fox was still sleeping, so it couldn't be the huge animal. It didn't even move a muscle, even thought it looked like it was bleeding. What else could the red liquid be, that crept at him through the weird water.

"_Naruto!"_

He threw his head around again. It was his kaa-chan! But where was she? He couldn't see her anywhere! The blonde knew he always talked big in front of his onee-chan. He wanted to be a great shinobi. But truth to be told, Naruto was still a small four year old kid! And he _was_ scared.

"_Kaa-chan! Where are you?"_

The blonde felt a force pulling him away from the creepy place and as he opened his eyes again, he saw his mother looking at him with a worried face. His godfather stood next to her, but Naruto could only see his back. The older man watched their surroundings.

"Kaa-chan," before he could continue the medic-nin had grabbed him and gave him a choking hug. He wanted to flee from it, but stopped as he felt something wet against his shoulder. He wanted to ask her, what was wrong, but he felt too weak. Something was absolutely not right…

"Kaa-chan…"

"Tsunade!"

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><p>Jiraiya eyed the forest around them. As much as he wanted to take care of his godson, he knew that even if Orochimaru vanished in the middle of their fight, he could still be in the area. So, he left it to Hime-chan to make sure he was alright.<p>

But the more he watched them from the corner of his eye, the more he knew that she was too shocked to think straight. And as his godson's eyes flickered, he did the best thing he could think of.

"Tsunade!"

Reluctantly, the blonde let go of her kid. Horror filled her face as she saw Naruto unconscious in her arms and black markings move from the left side of his neck over his shoulder and red arm. They looked like broken leaves, each one missed something.

Carefully, to avoid Tsunade's furry, Jiraiya shoved her out of the way and inspected the markings. He bit his lip in thought and tried to track the dark lines. The seal-master searched for the true meaning behind all these curves, but a failed seal contained a lot of mistakes from the original. One wrong line in a storage seal could change it into an explosive tag. He didn't want to think about what a complex seal like this one would do if it missed only one dot! Not to mention that he stopped Orochimaru to applying the whole seal. It would have been a lot easier to work with a completed one…

"What's wrong with him, Ero? Jiraiya?" The Slug Princess was panicking, but Jiraiya tried to ignore her. It would annoy her, yes, but he needed to focus.

Shaking his head, the Toad Sennin decided it was best to stop its doing and remove it later. He bit his thumb and drew a small circle around the original seal. Focusing his chakra into it, he created a barrier, before connecting his chakra on Naruto with his own system. Without another real seal it would only hold for a year at most if he stayed close to his outer chakra network, but another seal could also trigger something different in the one it was supposed to keep at bay…

"It won't hold long, but he should be out of pain for now," he tried to assure the blonde woman. It was in exactly this moment that Shizune appeared with TonTon through the forest. She stared a moment at the destroyed area behind them, before snapping out of it and heading towards the two Sannin.

"Sensei?" She asked, before noticing her otouto on the floor and running towards them, "Naru-chan! What happened?"

Tsunade stayed quiet and didn't seem to be ready to say anything for a while. She just stared at her son, too scared for him to die…

"Orochimaru committed treason to Konoha some weeks ago," Jiraiya started slowly, knowing full well that Tsunade was listening and needed an explanation, "He… His apprentice, Gai Tsuyoku was found and some of their secrets were revealed. Orochimaru… he tried to…" Jiraiya bit his tongue. He knew the blonde would find out the moment the bingo books were to be updated in a week. But he also knew that it could hurt her, knowing she was one of the last Senju… and remembering Naruto's little secret… That she looked up, straight into his eyes made the matter even worse.

"He tried to recreate the Mokuton. About 60 infants were kidnapped and died, only one survived"

Before anybody could blink, Tsunade had created another crater in their current environment. She looked furious and ready to kill anyone that looked at her the wrong way. She turned back at Jiraiya and her angry eyes become soft and filled with sorrow.

"But why did he attack my Naru-chan? Only grandfather Hashirama could use the Mokuton. I was never able to and Naruto wouldn't be either!"

Her eyes seemed to water again and Jiraiya was sure of three things. That now was the third time he actually saw her cry, the Slug Princess lost control of herself, and Naruto hadn't told anybody else about his ability, because neither Tsunade nor Shizune seemed to look surprised…

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><p>It had been a week later, when Naruto finally woke up again. He felt good and didn't even notice the mark on his neck, but his kaa-chan still didn't let him out of her sight for longer than three minutes, stopping Shizune teachings and anything similar in the process. And as annoying as it seemed, it stopped her from going out and drinking or gambling.<p>

Jiraiya had stayed with them and they started to change locations every three days. It just felt safer to leave a place as soon as somebody could remember their faces. And even thought Jiraiya had to run his network of spies, he tried to never be gone for more than some hours maximal, keeping his additional chakra network stable. He also tried to study the seal every time his godson was asleep. He didn't want the little kid to worry.

It also had been the Toad Sennin, who told Naruto to keep his powers a secret. He wasn't sure if Tsunade was ready for it and adult or not, he wouldn't let her get more hurt, because of a power that was believed dead…

Shizune kept healing some of the civilians, they passed. So, Tsunade decided to cook again… Only for everybody to vomit the weird looking… things? Everybody but Naruto, who was totally fine with the pink bread, yellow-violet soups, and a mixture of a red cheese-pickle-soya sandwich could not get the food down their throats without running for the next toilet…

The young medic-nin was the first to suspect something, right before Jiraiya refused to finish his meal and was slapped out of the room, tearing down two walls in the process… It had been in exact that moment that she was sure of her theory.

"Sensei? You look a little pale. May I check you over?"

Naruto looked up from his meal and watched his kaa-chan with his big blue eyes. He hadn't noticed his kaa-chan looking pale, but onee-chan's shooing hand told him to go along with it.

"Shizune, don't you think I would notice it if something were wrong?" She went back to eat, dismissing the subject.

But her kohai wouldn't let her. Hearing a groan from the hole in the wall, or probably walls, she tried it again: "But you always told me, that sometimes we don't notice the changes our bodies go through, because we are just too used to them, just a quick check-up, please?"

Tsunade nodded slowly and pushed her chair away from the table to give Shizune more room, as the younger medic-nin approached her. Naruto close behind, watching every move his onee-chan made with even bigger eyes.

Biting her lip, Shizune first checked her sensei's body temperature and pulse with her in green chakra covered hands, before she moved towards her abdomen and feeling what she had expected, another live.

She stopped her chakra and looked straight into Tsunade's eyes.

"What is it? Is kaa-chan sick?" Naruto looked uneasy from one woman to the other, ready to tear up any second.

"No, not like that, nothing like that," Shizune tried to assure him. Before she could say anything else, her sensei spoke.

"I am pregnant?" Tsunade never watched Naruto study their books, so she didn't know that he already understood the word, which made his little blue eyes shine. Had she known, she maybe would have asked a totally different question, something metaphorical… not something direct.

"I am gonna be a big brother!" Said little blonde jumped up and down, before running towards his godfather, while the other blonde's eyes just widened in shock. Shizune looked scared at her sensei, silently praying not to be asked about her otouto's studies.

"I should just…" she wanted to say abandon it, get rid of it, don't bear a child of a traitor. But the moment she didn't say it, she knew, she couldn't do it. She didn't want to be the one that destroyed her son's happy shining eyes…

"Sensei?" Shizune eyed her carefully. But the woman just shook her head she didn't want to think about it. She just didn't.

Just in this moment Jiraiya run into the room, back on his legs with an overjoyed smile on his face making the red printed hand on his check seem a little out of place... The Slug Princess just wanted to hit him again, when his voice stopped her.

"That's the solution!"

Everybody just blinked in confusion. _What? Had he just gone senile?_

"Shizune, here take little Naruto and TonTon out to a little walk, there's a beautiful park close to that flower shop. I need to speak with Tsunade about something," he picked the little pig up from the floor and put it into his godson's arms, before gently shoving them out of the room, "Have a nice day!", with that he slammed the door shut.

"What do you think you are doing?" A half-deadly, half-furious voice asked him quietly.

"Calm down. Give me one minute and you can run after them and glare at everybody coming to close to your son again, deal?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"And if you're still angry, you can beat me up again."

Reluctantly, Tsunade nodded and silently started to count to sixty in the back of her head. After what happened she would kill everybody who stood between herself and her son. Old teammate or not, even Jiraiya wouldn't be save from a punishment...

"I told you about the seal placed on Naruto to keep the Kyuubi at bay, didn't I?" She nodded raising her other eyebrow, "Well, with the used seal, we need a second container to stabilize the first and grant them the power to use Kyuubi's chakra, which would help him to get rid of Orochimaru's failed seal. The chakra of a bijuu could just overpower it! But because Naruto was a newborn baby as Kyuubi was sealed, we need a newborn baby again. We need a kid that is compatible with the blonde tornado. In the first thoughts about the Ni-Kumo Seal, Minato and I thought about somebody blood-related…" Tsunade stopped the countdown at twenty-seven and looked straight into the Toad Sennin eyes.

"So, you want to use his soon to be born sibling as second container?"

Jiraiya sighed again. He knew, would he say something wrong, his body would be found in Konoha, dead and not next door in Ishi no Kuni, still breathing…

"Haven't you noticed how Naruto had never been sick? And I can assure you, it's not because of your cooking abilities. Where do his whisker marks come from? As we fought with Orochimaru, I saw one of Manda's venom attacks hit Naruto, but it was gone, as we got to him. His arm looked just a little bit red afterwards. Kyuubi grants him healing abilities, but it's not able to do much more. It's still unconscious. If I am right, you wouldn't have to worry about your other child as well. The child would have the same healing abilities. With some experience they could both heal instantly. I am not saying that they should train to become shinobis. I know about Minato's promise. But they should be prepared, because Orochimaru is out there," he pointed towards the whole in the wall "and he isn't giving up on the Mokuton any time soon."

Tsunade looked at him. She wasn't angry. She knew her friend was right. But she felt fear. She wasn't able to love the fetus in her any time soon, she knew, she was sure of it. It made the medic-nin feel disgusted by herself. But she knew she couldn't change it… And loving her child or not, she didn't want to put a huge burden on a little baby…

"Are you sure? Could it work out?" The Slug Princess was more asking herself than the silver-haired shinobi in front of her.

He knelt down and carefully laid his hands onto hers: "I can transfer the seal from the scroll onto the baby. Kyuubi wouldn't want to be in pain, so it _will_ not interfere with my work. It also _will_ destroy the failed seal on Naruto with rare power and it _will_ protect them. Just believe in us, Hime"

The blonde nodded. Her baby might hate her, but she would just have to deal with it…

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><p>"Onee-chan, if I'm gonna be an onii-san, am I still your otouto?"<p>

"Sure, that's not going to change, o-tou-to," Shizune said stretching every syllable of the last word, emphasizing it.

They just went through the little park and Naruto seemed to enjoy not being watched by his mother. Together with TonTon he jumped around and sometimes even ran ahead, just to stop, when the medic-nin was ready to call out to him. As he waited for her to catch up with him, he asked her about the plants name's around them.

The boy had already run towards the next couple of trees, when he stopped and came back to Shizune, TonTon hot on his heels.

"Onee-chan, the girl in the house over there, watches us," he pointed to his left side, worry in his face.

"You shouldn't point at other people," the medic-nin scowled him, as she watched how the girl pulled the curtains in front of the window. She hadn't been able to get a good look of the girl, but name it a medic-nin's sixth sense or not, she already knew that the kid had been sick.

"Should we visit her? I don't think she is doing well…"

Now the little blonde looked from his onee-chan, to the house, and into the direction they came from. His kaa-chan could get really angry, but if Shizune suggested it… It couldn't be that bad, could it? He was just going to watch some medical ninjutsu, see how the girl would be healed and feel happy for her…

"What's taking you so long, onee-chan?" Laughing, he ran towards the house, an oinking TonTon and giggling medic-nin behind him, just to come to a sudden halt in front of a wooden door.

Naruto looked back at his onee-chan, before he knocked. As nobody answered, he put his ear on the door. At first, there was only silence, then he heard somebody inhaling, a coughing, followed by a quiet thud.

"Have you knocked?" Shizune asked him, her eyes watching a sign on the door in wonder, which was up too high for Naruto to read.

The blonde nodded and before the medic-nin could stop him, he already went inside. If she wanted to lecture him at first, she forgot it the moment she saw the body of a young, blonde girl laying on the floor. Even from the other end of the hallway, she could see the sweat running down her forehead.

Without taking her shoes of, she ran towards the kid and let her chakra cool her body temperature. Her experienced hands flew over her body searching the roots of her illness.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

She noticed Naruto behind her. He looked from the probably eight or nine year old girl to his onee-chan and back at her.

"Damn it," Shizune felt the pulse of the girl vanish from under her, while Naruto jerked away. Shizune and cursing meant trouble, real trouble. "I need powder of a wisteria sinensis branch. Can you bring me my bag in-"

"Can you keep a secret?" the boy interrupted her, while he chew on his lip.

"Naruto, that's not-"

"Can you?"

Shizune looked away from her patient. _What was so important for him that he didn't even hurried and got her supplies?_

"Yes and now-" This time she wasn't interrupted. She stopped speaking, when she saw what her little otouto did… He had put a hand onto the wooden floor and let a little wisteria sinensis tree grew out of it.

To say the medic-nin was stunned speechless, was like saying Jiraiya was the finest gentleman in the Elemental Countries. She blinked and stared at the little tree that seemed to bend to Naruto's will and suddenly stopped spreading towards the ceiling.

It was then that she noticed she had been too stunned to keep the healing chakra in her palms. She shook her head, before continuing to heal the girl. Looking around, she found the stove and nodded in its direction.

"Heat up some water," she watched him stand up and heading for some pans and bowls "I will do the rest… and Naruto?" he turned around again, chewing his lip again, "We are going to have a long talk about this as soon as she's better, got that?"

The blonde boy nodded, before continuing his task. That was the first time, she asked him for help while dealing with a patient. He wouldn't disappoint his onee-chan.

While he put a bowl with water onto the stove, Shizune took care of the little girl. She kept her fever down and thought about her condition. The hot temperature in the kid's body wouldn't ever be a big problem for her. It was a little cold, nothing more and nothing less.

But she'd found something different in her body. Something, which was destroying the kid from the inside and a nagging feeling told her, that it wouldn't be a normal disease…

It was just a moment later, that the girl regained conscious. Her eyes couldn't focus, but the medic-nin was sure, that this would change soon.

"Good morning, honey. How do you feel?" She asked the kid softly. From the corner of her own eyes she noticed her otouto watching them.

"Leave," the girl's hoarse voice said, while she regained some of her strength, "I will just make you sick too."

"Nopes, not going to happen, honey," Shizune replied as softly as before.

Naruto poured some of the hot water into a cup and brought it to them. Curious, the small girl watched him, as he handed it to his onee-chan.

"Hi," Naruto smiled at her and she hid behind Shizune, "What's your name?"

She slowly looked back at him, watching him closely. Shizune knew right then, that the girl wasn't treated well by the villagers. She was way too fearful of her little brother. And as the kid noticed, that she'd hid behind another stranger, she - tremblingly - tried to stand up and run behind a chair.

…only to trip over one of the wisteria sinensis' branches…

"Are you alright?" Naruto went up to her and helped her to sit onto the chair she'd tried to reach. Reluctantly, she accepted his help staring at the small plant in wonder. The medic-nin watched them as she cut some of its branches off and dropped them into the still boiling water. The mixture would take a while to be done…

"Anko, Aoi Anko"

Shizune looked up, puzzled, before she noticed – it was an answer to Naruto's earlier question. It was her name.

"That's an awesome name! I am Naruto. And that's Shizune, my onee-chan, she can heal you, she's a great medic-nin" he pointed at her and the young woman gave Anko a warm smile, "And that's TonTon," he said pointing at the oinking pig "She's a good friend, but not really talkative…" He looked at the floor in wonder "Wanna be friends?"

The sick girl looked at him scared, before nodding with the hugest smile Shizune had ever seen. They continued to talk and both became happier. Naruto, because he met a playmate, that didn't seem weird to him and Anko, because she had hope again. Hope to live a normal life with the help of these three travelers.

Shizune watched them a while, before handing the cup towards the girl, who took it and drank it without complaining about the bitter taste. Anko seemed to be used to bad tasting medicine… Leaving Shizune to wonder, how the civilian in this village dealt with her sickness…

"Can I check you over, Anko?" The medic-nin asked carefully. But the girl just nodded in excitement, letting her long blonde hair fly around. It looked like she was never before treated by a medic-nin and that she was overjoyed with the thought. Normally a medic-nin took a lot of money and it wasn't something a normal person could afford…

While Naruto told the blonde girl stories about his godfather, Shizune let her chakra flow through Anko's body. It didn't took her long to find the root of her sickness and discover that the cold had made her real sickness take slowly over the little body… It took all of her training as kunoichi to not show any signs of sadness.

Anko Aoi had cancer and would probably die in the next couple of days…

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><p><strong>So... What you think? I hope the chapter turned out alright, but all the exams are coming up... so I might have missed some mistakes... *sigh*<strong>

**Well, a big THANK YOU to tstoldt, god of all, and ForeverFallen76! I was really happy reading your reviews!**

**I think it's kind of oblivious now, who Anko is going to be... **

**Please review! ^o^**


	8. Anko and the New Sensei

Chapter 7: Anko and the New Sensei

It had been nine months since Shizune, Naruto, and TonTon had met Aoi Anko. Even with Tsunade's help, she'd just lived a couple of weeks, before she died. They were only able to make her last days on earth as pleasurable as possible and keep all the pain away from her on the last days…

However, as Naruto had found out that his first real human friend would die and nobody was able to do anything against it, he'd tried to do his best for her. He had visited her everyday and together with his kaa-chan or Ero-sennin he'd made sure, that Anko was well and had everything she needed. Time and again, he'd even stayed overnight just to make sure his friend wouldn't get a nightmare.

But all his smiles didn't reach his eyes, for he just couldn't get over his sadness.

Even thought they were about four years apart, Anko was really thankful for the company. She hadn't had any friends since she could remember. There were always the pitiful looks she received from the villagers and a father, who yelled at her for coughing in the night.

The older man had finally died a year ago, she had told Naruto. Her tou-san had made her responsible for her kaa-san's death. And even if he hadn't been really nice to her, he _had_ taken good care of her. Something she was really grateful for…

When Naruto had come on her last day, Anko was already really weak. His kaa-chan had checked her over once, before giving her a mixture of an aconite and some chrysanthemums to deal with the pain. The medic-nin had told him to leave, but he'd stayed at Anko's side until the end. It had been that day, that he'd sworn something. He had sworn something he wouldn't tell his family for at least the next eighteen months to come…

_He would become the best medic-nin in the Elemental Countries and protect every one of his friends better than his ancestors did! He would give it his all and never, ever give up on it!_

It was only a month later that he realized… he would need to go to one of the hidden villages to fulfill his oath. He could only be a medic-nin if he had been an accepted genin before. And if he would become a great shinobi like his kaa-chan or his godfather did, he could protect even more people! He would just need to become the strongest shinobi ever, an awesome Kage!

But with a pregnant blonde woman who could change from lovely to annoyed to furious in a matter of seconds, he decided to start working on that goal after his baby-sibling were to be born…

So, he waited and tried to deal with his families constant arguing. They traveled from village to village, from country to country in a matter of days. And all the time it wasn't the pregnant woman that would want to stop and take a little break.

No, Tsunade was the one that yelled bloody murderer, when she had the feeling, they were too slow… Shizune always jumped at Naruto, covering or _trying_ to cover his ears and save even the tiniest bit of his innocence.

After months of traveling they had used one of Konoha's former safe houses to hide. His godfather had updated some seals and his onee-chan had cast some genjutsus around the entrances.

To not get into trouble with any other Konoha-nins, Jiraiya had told his sensei via summon, that he needed the place a while. As expected, the old man gave them free rein to do everything the Sannin pleased, while his kaa-chan just kept ranting about a "Monkey-Man".

Naruto didn't get it at first, until the Toad Sennin had explained that his sensei was the Hokage. And the man had not only trained him, but also the blonde's kaa-chan. To say Naruto had been shocked or happy, was like saying TonTon could defeat the Kyuubi! Naruto's jaw hit the floor and he had stared at his godfather for about a good minute. When he finally realized what it meant, he had run around and sung something about his family being the strongest.

Naruto turned around. He was told to go to sleep and laid in his bed for hours now, but he just couldn't. The young blonde had read dozens of Shizune's books and scrolls by now, all in secret since his mother decided to watch him like a hawk and he just knew what was going on downstairs!

But right now? He was send to bed early as his kaa-chan wasn't feeling well. His onee-chan had been in such a hurry to wish him good night, that she hadn't even noticed the three scrolls about chakra he hid under his pillow. Since she knew about his kekkei genkai she had given him a serious talk about not showing it to anybody, unless he really had to and she had watched him more closely…

TonTon jumped onto his bed as he turned around again. The small pig looked at him with its big eyes and Naruto knew it was as curious as him to go downstairs. They both wanted to check out, why they were forbidden to watch his little baby-sibling being born!

But sadly for him, TonTon was his current babysitter for a reason. Sighing he turned around and faced the pig, trying to get some sleep. He would more likely read some of the hidden scrolls, but he just knew TonTon would tear them apart or simply break the lamp…

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><p><em>Naruto rubbed his eyes. <em>

_He finally fell asleep. He knew he dreamed. A moment ago he had been in that dark room, just three rooms away from where his mother laid, yelling and cursing around. But now he stood in a forest. _

_An empty forest._

_He rubbed his eyes again. _

_Naruto didn't know why, but he felt sleepy. Wasn't somebody supposed to not fell sleepy in his dreams? And his neck tickled. It was a weird feeling like somebody kept poking him. But there was nobody. _

_Not knowing what to do else, he started to walk around. He liked the forest. It felt safe. Well, as safe as anybody could feel with that nagging feeling…_

_Naruto wasn't quite sure what to do. Sure, it was peaceful and nice and everything. But there seemed to be something missing. It was too quiet, it was too…_

_He wasn't sure what it was, so he kept walking. Maybe he just imagined things? Or he was just-_

_He stopped at once. There was a soft sound. _

_The next moment he screamed holding onto his wounded neck. In front of him sat a small fox, which threw a black snake away from them. Its teeth were bloody with the blonde's blood. _

_Naruto felt the warm liquid ran down his neck. In shock he covered it up, but the wound was already gone!_

_Before he knew, what was going on, the fox grew and killed the dark retile. The red canine turned around and looked at him, but he felt no fear. As he started to black out, he knew that the forest was now complete and the nagging feeling wouldn't return. _

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><p>The next moment he had been awake and saw his baby sister for the first time. He would never forget this evening. Even though his kaa-chan and Ero-sennin were fighting again and Shizune tried her best to stop them, he'd hold his imouto in his own small hands refusing to let her go.<p>

And because everybody was just too busy to watch the siblings, Naruto simply named her Anko.

His mother hadn't liked the name – not at all! She nearly went berserk, but seeing her two kids so happy… Well, she couldn't and wouldn't want to change it. Naruto still remembered her taking out a sheet of paper and starting to write the birth certificate… while a really blushed Shizune had to heal a beaten Jiraiya.

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><p>Now it had been a year since Anko was born. The little girl took a lot after her parents. She always tried to crawl around and discovered the world with her own means - all the time making her "Oo-nii-tshan" responsible for destroying some furniture or books in the process.<p>

Naruto had started to throw all the bright clothes away and started wearing yukata. Even if it meant no orange any more, they were best suited for his training exercises without his kaa-chan figuring out what he was up to. The blonde started to _borrow_ some scrolls from his onee-chan time and again to work on his chakra.

At the beginning it had been really difficult to get the hang of mixing it the right way, not to mention he couldn't ask anybody without coursing some rising suspicion. Then he had trouble not using too much – something he didn't understood at all! And to make matters worse, he could only train, when he was alone watching his little sister with TonTon… But the closer he was to her, the more chakra he seemed to have. That didn't make any sense!

He reread the scroll that explained how to climb trees without the use of your hands for the umpteenth time. He had taken both, Anko and their little pig out into the woods. Naruto knew that his kaa-chan would find out about his training if he used the trees behind the hotel they just stayed at, so he always snuck into the woods for some privacy…

With a battle yell he ran towards the tree and tried to run up to the top – only to be sent flying into the opposite direction and crashing into a bush. The blonde watched the tree in anger not really noticing the bush seemed to hug him.

With an angry growl, he went back to his sleeping animal-babysitter and imouto. Her big eyes looked at him with all the innocence of the world. Naruto picked her up, making her giggle.

"Okay, smarty. You wanna tell me how I am supposed to do it? Because I feel like I am going to break the tree if I try it again."

Anko just laughed and tried to grab his hair in wonder. The blonde sighed in defeat.

"I could really use some help here, i-mou-to!"

But the girl just seemed to understand the last word. Clapping her hands in excitement she started speaking: "Oo-nii-tshan! Oo-nii-tshan"

Smiling Naruto caught her hands in his own, wondering who he could ask for help. His kaa-chan would just freak out and watch him like a hawk again… His onee-chan? Bad idea, she already knew about his Mokuton, but would not allow any more training. Not to mention, that she would tell his mother sooner or later. Ero-sennin? Well, none of the women would leave him alone with that pervert. It wasn't even an option.

"_Why not ask me?"_

Naruto nearly jumped. Where did that voice come from? But he couldn't make it out. TonTon slept like nothing happened and Anko… titled her head in wonder. Was the voice for real?

"Am I going crazy?" He asked himself quietly.

"_I hope not. I wouldn't want you to become insomniac and weird, like Shukaku-nii's last Jinchuuriki,"_ the voice replied.

Anko just laughed, enjoying the sound of the female voice, she seemingly heard too. She looked around as if searching for it, too.

"_Do you want some help or not, kit? I wasn't really strong before the seal was strengthened, but I can't have you get another one of those stupid snakes. I hate to say it, but it really weakened me after I hibernated so long."_

The blonde just blinked. His sister looked back. _What now?_

Before he could even ask what was going on, the voice answered again, sounding really tired and bored.

"_I am inside you and your little sister, you are not going crazy, my name's Kurama, I can hear your thoughts, but at least I am not the only one… And_ please _stop thinking about ramen!"_

Anko clapped her hands again, smiling the biggest smile he had ever seen, while Naruto himself just spaced out, embarrassed about the ramen-comment. Shizune had gotten it for him a week ago and he totally loved it. Shaking his blonde head, he tried to remember what sickness started out with hearing weird voices.

"_No you are not ill, kit"_

"How would you know?" the boy replied angry, startling TonTon and making his imouto… frown? "Why else should you be able to hear my thoughts?"

The voice was silent for a while. The blonde thought the voice would leave him now alone, but he was wrong.

"_Go to the tree. Don't run. Walk it up, focusing on each step_," it said as quiet as the leaves whispered in the wind around them.

He sighed. He'd already tried it this way a million times…

"_Just do it!_" The voice yelled at him and he jumped, nearly dropping Anko.

Naruto frowned. But he knew another try would not really hurt and if it didn't work, he would just ignore the voice for the rest of his life. So he followed its instructions. Concentrating, but not really expecting it to work, he put his foot onto the bark… and nearly lost all of his focus, as he noticed one thing – it worked!

He walked the tree up and down, up and down his smile growing with each step he took. Then he tried to walk onto another tree and again – it worked. It finally worked!

"Dattebayo!" Naruto run onto the next tree, but just to fall down.

"_Focus, kit_," the voice said and he could imagine the smirk of the female.

"Whatever, whoever, wherever you are – you are great! What did you do?" The blonde asked, making TonTon look at him in wonder and Anko staring at him. They always traveled like normal civilians. The only chakra use they had, were his onee-chan and sometimes his kaa-chan healing some people. Seeing him _walk _up the barks was… odd?

"_I already told you, name's Kurama. And I just separated some of my chakra from yours. You will be able to use it later, but for now – you need to know how to use your original chakra as a damn-Senju,"_ the voice giggled as if it was laughing about a hidden joke.

"What'd you mean?" To say Naruto was confused, was like saying he TonTon was Kyuubi's size. The question marks seemed to shoot out of his head.

"_All in time, kit_," the blonde heard something that sounded like somebody stretching his body, "_You wanna get taught some more?"_

Naruto just smiled and nodded. Thought, Kurama couldn't see his movements she felt the acceptance of the blonde and nearly purred, nearly being the keyword. Sure, she wasn't too happy to be sealed away and the blonde might not be the brightest, but she liked him.

"_You could give me a small body. Nothing big, a drop of your blood and some of our chakra would do. Then I will teach you. Deal?"_

"Sure thing- wait… WHAT? You want my body or what now?" Naruto screamed before running, grabbing Anko, and trying to hide with her behind a bush. TonTon just looked at him like he was reaaaally getting crazy.

"_We need to work on your communication skills… And what would I want with your body, kit? I hate blonde fur!"_ The boy just looked at a strand of his hair, wondering what was wrong with it, _"You take your blood as medium, just a drop is already enough for a small body, and let some of our chakra pour into it. You can even destroy it in a blink of an eye. That difficult, kit?" _

He wasn't too sure about it, until he finally noticed, "_Our_ chakra?"

"_You want help or not?" _Kurama replied angrily.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto answered fast. He jumped out of the bush putting Anko back to TonTon and let her climb onto the poor pig, before taking out the only weapon his mother wouldn't take away from him – a simple needle. And that was only, because he would _not_ let her find it on him.

Carefully, he poked his finger, followed by a quiet "Ouch.", and watched the blood flowing down and dropping on top of a small leaf. He stared at it, wondering how he would get chakra into something so small.

"_Put your hands over the drop,"_ Kurama tried to help out, which the blonde happily complied to, _"Do the same thing you did before trying to climb the tree, but now you just send the chakra to your hands, alright kit?"_

Naruto did as instructed and was totally amazed with the red glow his hands emitted. His imouto watched him with even greater eyes saying "Ret! Ret!", while TonTon just hid behind her… a simple one-year old…

If the blonde hadn't seen his godfather use ninjutsu by now, he probably wouldn't have believed it. But right before his very own eyes, the little droplet of blood began to grow into the size of a soccer ball, before it developed some features. There was a head, there two front legs, and there… how many legs did the creature have?

Because Naruto was already sure that it couldn't be a human being. Its face was far too long and its ears just a _little bit_ too pointy.

Well, his question was answered pretty fast as the little red fox had, like normal foxes did, four legs, but nine times as many tails… In front of him sat a fox in the size of a normal kitty-cat, with nine tails… nine freaky-

"_You know, I can still hear your thoughts. So would you please be so polite as to stop thinking about my tails?"_ The fox grinned at him and hearing his thoughts it added, "_And don't call me fox… or freaky fox! My name's Kurama!"_

"Hai, Kurama-sama!" The blonde replied as fast as he could, only to make the creature growl at him.

"_Do I look that old to you, that you must call me –sama?"_

Naruto didn't know what to respond to that. Sure, his mother told him the same thing a while back too, but then he just called her kaa-chan… He couldn't do that to the fox, now could he?

He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't notice Anko crawling near the little fox and TonTon holding onto her pants trying to stop her.

"_Then just call me Kura-chan, your new sensei."_

"Awesome!" Naruto cried out joyfully, before he noticed something, "Kura-chan? What is a sensei?"

The fox just sighed. They had a loooong way to go…

* * *

><p>It had been a half year since Naruto met Kurama and started to train in the art of a shinobi. It was a bit odd to have a second voice in his head, but he decided to not tell his family about it, because –simply put and as weird as it might sound- he trusted Kura-chan.<p>

Well, she might be a little evil in her training methods, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. And her training showed results! Sure, it took him about a month to walk up the trees without her suppressing some of their chakra. And he didn't really know where she came from or what she always meant with _their_ chakra, because every time he asked, she would just dodge the question! But he didn't care anymore.

Since their first encounter it had been a lot trickier to meet up in secret and train, but they managed somehow. Now Anko started to run and tried to walk up on trees and furniture as well as her onii-chan did… only to fail and freak her big brother out time and again, making him loose his concentration.

"_You need to focus more, kit! Come on, it's like the kage bunshin or one of the elemental bunshin, just with less chakra!"_ Kura-chan yelled at her blonde kohai – grinning. She reaaaally enjoyed teaching him.

Naruto frowned. It was easy for her to say. She didn't need the jutsu and admitted herself she was not able to create one! But he _had_ to claim that it shouldn't be impossible, even with his large chakra coils and he would need it for the chakra control as a future medic-nin.

"_I can tell, you're not focused,"_ Kura-chan said in a sing-song voice.

"Maybe a crazy fox is just a little bit too loud?" He replied turning around and taking a break. During the last half year he did dozens of different chakra-control exercises. But did they work? At all? Maybe a little bit, but not much. All the different sets were used to control a lot of chakra at once. But he needed different ones, ones that would be used to focus just a small amount of chakra.

But Kura-chan sadly didn't know any of those. So they decided to go with the bunshin no jutsu instead. While the kage bunshin used a lot of chakra, an elemental bunshin used about half as much and the simple bunshin about a tablespoon of chakra from a whole lake!

Well, he had the kage bunshin down, as well as the bunshin made of wood, wind, earth, and water. But the normal ones just didn't want to work with him. Kami, he could even summon some of Kura-chan's friends after signing that weird scroll, but no bunshin!

At least Kura-chan was able to help him control his Mokuton a lot better. He was really surprised as to how much the little fox knew about an art his godfather claimed to be extinct. And even thought his onee-chan had forbidden him from using it and telling him to keep it a secret between the two of them, he wanted to know and learn a lot more about it. He could save people, with letting herbs grow out of thin air… well, nearly thin air, he still needed a seed.

But things would change pretty soon. He was sure! He just needed a better chakra control…

He felt something hug his leg. As Naruto looked down he met the huge blue eyes of his imouto.

"You real onii-chan?" She asked, refusing to let go of his leg.

"Yes. I am no bunshin. Do you want a kage bunshin to play with?"

But the little girl just shook her head, letting her black-purplish hair fly around, "Real onii-chan play!" She demanded.

"Anko-chan," Naruto carefully opened the grip she had on his leg, kneeled down, and made a sad face, "But I want to train a little bit more, before Ero-sennin gets back."

"Otay," she slowly nodded, "Kage bunshin onii-chan!"

Kura-chan just laughed at their antics. The small girl would always demand for her older brother to play with her and he would do it, when the adults where back and he couldn't train any more. It would be so funny if he knew, what she sometimes thought of her older brother!

"Why do you grin?" Naruto asked eyeing the fox in a suspicious way as he made a new kage bunshin and sent it with his imouto.

"_No reason_," she replied, "_Back to the impossible?"_

"Just you wait and watch me. I will make it possible, Dattebayo!" The blonde tried to focus his chakra again and to make as less as he could, "Bunshin no Jutsu!" he called out.

And he created a bunshin. It looked very, very sickly before it dispelled. But it stood! It had been standing on its own two feet and didn't lie on the floor trying to vomit smoke. It was an improvement!

"Did you see it, Kura-chan! It nearly worked. Just give me a week or two and I will have it down in no time!"

But the fox ignored him and looked with an unreadable expression behind him in Anko's direction.

"_We got a problem, kit."_

"What do you-", he stopped in the middle of his sentence, before he slowly lifted his hand.

"Hi there, Ero-sennin"

Right next to his imouto, TonTon, and the other shocked Naruto stood his godfather watching him wide eyed. The Sannin looked from his little Gaki to the kage bunshin with the little girl to the little fox with nine tails and back to the original Naruto.

"I am not really sure what to think right now, so maybe you would love to explain some things to me?" The older male asked, all the time observing the fox and watching every move she made.

"Well… Jiraiya meet Kurama," Naruto said backing away. He decided it was best to not annoy him or call him Ero-Sennin… at least not yet, "Kura-chan meet my godfather."

"_I already know him. He is the one that writes this awful Icha Icha series. For just one of his researches, I would already kill him - with pleasure,"_ she smirked heinous.

Naruto knowing his little friend's hate about perverts, took another step back. And maybe she had freaked out the Sannin now. So, it couldn't get any worse unless his mother found out.

"Did you find them, Jiraiya-san?" Shizune just called out and advanced from behind some other trees.

Okay, scratch that. If it involved his onee-chan, it could only get worse than worse…

* * *

><p><strong>So, I am back!<strong>

…**Sorry it took me so long. First my computer crushed and I nearly lost everything I made for the story- some flashbacks, background information, timeline… and it took me like forever to get some of the data I had saved on another computer…**

**And then finals came and I really lost my motivation. So, I wanted to thank Fuyutaro son for his comment on the latest chapter, as well as fan's comment some days ago. It made me write the next chapter till three o'clock in the morning and I am already working on the next one ^O^**

**But anyways-**

**Read, Enjoy, and REVIEW! ^o^**

**Thankies! :D**


	9. Tiger and Snake

_Chapter 8: Tiger and Snake_

It had been nearly two years after Jiraiya and Shizune found out about Naruto's secret training and little Kyuubi-chan. Not wanting to get into trouble with a certain blonde woman, they told Tsunade...

To say the Sannin was angry was like saying Jiraiya wrote kids books. And as she found out about Kurama, she was beyond _furious_. The Slug Princess was ready to go back to Konoha just to destroy a certain Hokage's grave and rip into pieces whatever was left of him the poor guy.

It had been a lot of work to calm her down and it really helped that they were behind Kumo's borders, the farthest away from Konoha you could get, not counting the huge desert behind Suna.

Naruto never saw his mother more emotional before and kept a huge distance from her – all the time ignoring Kurama in the back of his head, who just loved to remind him that a couple of feet were nothing for a Sannin to cover.

It took weeks for Tsunade to finally calm down and about two more months to accept her son's will of studying the shinobi arts. She still held Jiraiya, Kurama, Minato, and to a certain extend Shizune responsible for Naruto's "stupid deathly" reason for learning something so "idiotic and vexing"… but she accepted it…

Well, not without a dozen of conditions, like him studying medic-ninjutsu first, to not just die on her or not staying up until midnight, just because he wants to learn something or eating all the vegetables at supper…

And so Tsunade started training him herself. She was just too suspicious of Kurama. After all it was not every day that you met a bijuu who had secretly been watching over your son, as well as training him. But both females connected rather fast after dealing with a certain pervert…

Naruto awoke to a loud smash coming from next door. Sleepy, he rubbed his eyes and looked into white-and-black fur, which his sister snuggled into. A year ago, Anko vanished for about two days and only seconds before their kaa-san could lose it, the three-year-old returned with a little tiger kitten, declaring it her best friend ever.

Back then, nobody had been sure how to react and Anko wasn't a really talkative child. So it took them a while to figure out what happened… and they still weren't sure if it was even possible for A) a tiger to think the lost Anko in the woods were one of her kittens, B) Anko to befriend with one of her babies, C) for that tiger-mom not to come back the next day, and D) Anko taking the cube with her back home.

Tsunade had been quiet after the explanation and left in the night, thinking Naruto didn't notice her absence. But he did notice, as well as the solemn look in her eyes after he asked about the tiger's mother.

"_Nature can be cruel,"_ were her only words…

Since then the tiger stayed with them and Anko took care of him… or better said- the _feline_ took care of _Anko_. Now there was no morning any more for Naruto to wake up and not find his sister next to the big ball of fur she called Mukuro. For one year of age, that tiger was really big. It was nearly her size!

The blonde stretched once, before focusing on the arguing voices behind the wall, all the time ignoring his sleeping sister and Mukuro's open eyes watching him. If he was really silent, at least his sister could sleep a little longer. It was just dawn…

Naruto stood up and got into his orange yukata, throwing his pajama onto his pillow, and went to the door. Taking a deep breath, Naruto exited the room in less than a second and closed the door as fast and as quietly as he could… and that just in time. Not a moment later another smash was heard.

He turned around to look what was left of the hotel room. So far, only the table, two chairs and some plates were broken. That wasn't that bad, he had seen worse.

"_Somebody is royally pissed,"_ Kura-chan sang in the back of his head joyfully, seemingly enjoying the show.

"THAT GUY CAN F*CK KAMI FOR ALL THAT I CARE!" His Kaa-chan yelled at Jiraiya who looked three heads smaller than her, with his neck nearly vanishing between his shoulders. The blonde couldn't see his onee-chan anywhere and hoped she would be back soon, because he wouldn't want to get caught in another argument of those two Sannin _again_.

"I understand you, Hime-chan. Totally! But think about it and think about all your debts! And sensei asked me _personally_ to find you. I can't just lie to him!" Naruto raised an eyebrow watching the two. At least his godfather was not stupid enough to raise his voice too much. Maybe that was the only reason why the couch was still in one piece.

"I AM NOT LEAVING THEM ALONE JUST TO HEAL A NOBLE'S B*TCH, WHO JUST GOT A LITTLE FLU!" Her fist killed the third chair.

"_Ouch," _Naruto tried not to sigh, while listening to Kura-chan's comments, _"You sure that baka survives today? Not that would mind a perv dying…"_

"_Well, but it seems he wasn't a perv today", _the blonde ignored the kitsune's _"yet"_ and went on, _"He hasn't received any bruises!"_

Again the red furball finished his sentence with a _"yet"._

Naruto ignored it and went to their bags of food and looked for some breakfast. With his kaa-san's debts they never had much, but some onigiri or even dango you could always find in them.

"Please, Hime! Shizune can stay with them. That guy is the daimyo of Ta no Kuni and one of the conditions of the new alliance between our countries is, that our best medic-nin – being you – heals his second wife. Sensei even _ordered _me back to Konoha just to tell me_ in person_ how important it is. Konoha needs more allies! I don't want you to deny his orders and risk becoming a-"

He stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed Naruto with a couple of onigiri walking to the couch, sitting down, and watching them.

Confused, Tsunade turned around.

"Don't bother interrupting your argument," the small blonde said as he noticed them looking at him.

In a matter of seconds his mom calmed down and looked at him with a scowl on her face. "Didn't I tell you, that children are supposed to eat at the table?"

Naruto just nodded and Tsunade's eyebrow rose, while her son just kept eating.

"Sooo?" She asked raising her other eyebrow as well.

"And which table would that be?" Naruto responded and Jiraiya had to bite his lips to not start laughing. Even if his godson could get him in trouble four or five times a day – last time being just yesterday -, his behavior and Tsunade's face were just too hilarious to pass by.

Puzzled, the Slug Princess turned around just to notice the destruction she had caused. Mumbling a "shit, not again", she took the last remaining chair and the broken plates to the other side of the room and scanned through the destroyed furniture.

Sighing, she nodded at Jiraiya, who understood right away and burned it to ashes as she threw the plates away. They left the dust at the ground and Tsunade took some tree seeds out of their bags and handed them her son who just finished his meal.

"Sorry, Naru-chan," she said softly, but he just shrugged with his shoulders.

After all it had been his idea to reduce some of their debts with _growing_ the furniture his kaa-chan destroyed and it helped him to master his mokuton. He could fasten the speed a plant grew, but he wasn't able, until recently to change its appearance or number of leaves and roots, not to mention the shape!

His kaa-chan wasn't to found about it at first, but after she destroyed a whole wall… again and Naruto tried to sum up all the debts, she accepted his help. Would anybody else, but her Naru-chan try to keep track of her destruction and all the money she owned a bunch of hotel managers, he would have met his fate. But even with her hot-headed temper, she would never raise her hand in front of her son.

Shizune was still a little reluctant about letting the little boy do all the work, but noticed the pros about the solution rather fast, even if she didn't want her otouto to "repair her shishou's deeds" as she called it.

"So, what's the problem? And where's onee-chan?" Naruto asked after finishing his last onigiri. Tsunade looked angry at her old teammate, but he ignored it.

"Shizune is out checking up on the pregnant woman two streets away," the older blonde said, while she watched him recreating the table.

Jiraiya wanted to pick up the other question, but was silenced by Tsunade glaring daggers at him.

Naruto looked at them, curious as to what they wanted to keep from him. He didn't know a lot about politics, because whether his godfather or onee-chan tried to speak about the topic, his kaa-chan started to create a new level of furiousness, but what Jiraiya said sounded… really urgent in a way he wasn't sure he understood. He was just a nine-year-old for Kami's sake!

"_Sounded to me like the little monkey could get your kaa-chan and the perv in trouble,"_ said Kura-chan quietly, _"After all, she wasn't home for a long, long time."_

"_What kind monkey are you talking about?"_ Naruto asked back, trying to stay focused on the second chair. He didn't want his kaa-chan to know about their little chat, because he messed up his jutsu.

"_A monkey-friend I didn't eat, but I don't think he tastes that good any more. Just a little too old for me,"_ she purred in the back of his mind.

"_He can't be possible older than Ero-sennin and you threaten to eat him all the time!" _

"_And you believe that? It's just for the filth to realize, that I am here and he dies a horrrrrrrrible death if he messes up,"_ she purred and Naruto had to wonder about _how_ that fox thought.

"_But the monkey is going to annoy or hurt kaa-chan? What kind of friend is he?"_

"_Your mom's boss kind of monkey-friend,"_ the boy could really imagine Kura-chan grinning from ear to ear as he blinked surprised. And surprised he was!

Of course he knew that his mom was a kunoichi, as well as his godfather being a shinobi… but they always talked about a sensei as their superior, but not as their boss. The guy was more a role model, they didn't follow. The only boss kind of shinobi he was aware of was a Kage… but none of his family wore any of the villages headbands! Sure, his godfather wore a headband, but he knew of no village with the kanji for "oil" as their symbol…

Simply said, he felt confused and was really surprised that with all of these thoughts, he didn't accidently made the last two chairs look weird…

"_Shall I ask them?"_ He asked his tenant, he wasn't sure if it was a good idea… He ever really thought about it, but – through how many enemy countries did they already travel? Was that the reason, his mother didn't want him to train in the shinobi arts?

"_Well, that would make the morning interesting!"_

Sighing, he turned around and ignored the staring contest between the two Sannin. His kaa-chan wouldn't ground him for a couple of questions, now would she?

Seriously? He wasn't sure at all…

"Who is your sensei? And why keeps Kura-chan calling him monkey?"

His mothers head flew around so fast, she slapped Jiraiya with one of her ponytails. He would have laughed, if she didn't look so dangerously at him and – better safe than sorry - Naruto took a step back in fear.

But before she could start yelling at him or whatever else she had intended to do, his godfather blinked and started laughing… hard. He had to put his hands onto his belly and still couldn't stop. It was like he had just seen Orochimaru with pink hair. And even though his old teammate looked angry at him, her lips tried to smile as well.

"JIRAIYA!" She hit him on his head…

"Sorry," he replied, still smiling like a madman.

Naruto's eyebrows rose. _"Okayyyy… Why did Ero-sennin just freak out like that?" _He asked the red fur ball in him.

She just sighed, _"No reason"_

"What was now so funny?" the little blonde asked aloud. He really felt like he missed the joke… and he didn't like it at all.

"Well, sensei's name is Sarutobi, Saru meaning monkey and he summons them as well. I always thought of him as one – not in a bad way, in a nickname kind of way – but I would have never dared calling him that. Kami, no! Not to a guy who could torture you and get away with it by calling it training" He shook his head and started laughing again, ignoring the Slug Princess glares.

"_I wonder if that's good for his health,"_ Kurama commented quietly.

As if hearing her words and wanting to prove them, Tsunade hit him again, knocking him out cold. She sighed, before walking up to her son and kneeling in front of him.

"So, Kura-chan knows the old man?"

Before Naruto could respond, he heard the fox respond, _"Tell her, that guy's just a decade older than her and I don't care about the politics. But sometimes it's better to just do the big guys a favor and be done with it. I'll be here."_

"_You heard more than I did, didn't you?"_

"_I was longer awake and my ears aren't that round and humanish"_

"_Humanish is no word"_

"_Now it is!"_

Before he could respond with another childish remark, Tsunade cleared her throat. She was used to her son spacing out like this and she trusted the fox… to a certain extent, but she really wanted _her_ answer!

"Kura-chan said, sometimes it's better to do the big guys a favor and be done with it and she would be here… and that the monkey is only a decade older than you," that made him wonder… how old was his kaa-chan anyways? He just realized… she never told him! That was just… weird.

Unknown to him the busty woman forced a smile onto her face for nearly exact same reason. That fox dared to comment her age. A damn fox… Even Jiraiya wasn't as suicidal as to even say something, anything close to her age. She saw her son putting up a confused face.

"How old are you, kaa-chan?"

Tsunade was said to be bad-tempered, really fast to become furious, as well as a happy drinker and sucker in all casinos you could find. Everything had one thing in common, her fast usage of violence if needed. Something she tried not to do in front of her kids. But sometimes, just sometimes she really had trouble controlling herself… now being one of these moments.

"My dear Naru-chan," she started trying to focus and not blow up the whole hotel, "I know you are just wondering, but we never ask a woman who is already past her twenties about her age, okay sweetie?"

Being a small child and all, the little boy totally missed the warning behind these words, and it wasn't like Kura-chan tried to stop him. So it couldn't be that bad to ask again, now could it?

"But what's the problem? You are my kaa-chan, it's not like I want you as a girlfriend. I'm just wondering"

"_Gaki_," he heard Kura-chan's voice in the back of his head. It sounded like a warning… a warning he couldn't quite get.

But before all could go south, the door opened, revealing his onee-chan with TonTon and food in her hands. Food that smelled like…

"RAMEN!"

* * *

><p>It was after lunch, that the two Sannin argued again, this time without the female destroying half of the furniture and yelling around, while Shizune taught Anko writing kanjis and Naruto some theory about medical ninjutsu.<p>

His onee-chan gave him just the second exercise for that day, which included healing a little blue bird she found without the need of equipment, like iryo-scrolls, which were used to better focus the healing chakra or to limit it to the injured areas, when the older shinobi came over to them.

"Short interruption," his mother grunted, looking angry at everybody and nobody in particular…

Shizune knew better than to complain, but Anko still gave her an icy look. The two just couldn't get along with each other…

Jiraiya, noticing that his old comrade wouldn't go on, decided to do so instead. "What Hime and I want to tell you is… Sensei needs Tsunade to heal somebody and it needs to happen fast. I need to be there as well, for whatever stupid reason ever. We will only be gone for maximal two days and-"

"And I will give you one of my slugs, you will stay out of the villagers sight, you will not cause any trouble, and I don't care what you do, but hell happens if anybody of you even has a scratch on him or her. Got it?" Tsunade interrupted the Toad Eremite. She locked her eyes with Shizune, who couldn't help but nod under the huge Killing Intent.

Still angry, the Slug Princess left, slamming the door behind her. Silence filled the room. Anko and Naruto looked at their frightened onee-chan, hoping for her not to pass out. She was already quite pale.

"How did you persuade her to… to accept… _that_?" Shizune stared at Jiraiya.

After all, the best medic-nin in the world was known in her family to hate the separation of her family. It was like she could lose them if she left them alone… like back then with Nawaki, Dan… and _him_.

"I seriously don't know. You should ask Kami," he replied and he sat down on one of the chairs, looking tired.

"So one day? One whole day without kaa-chan for sure?" Anko asked, her big eyes watching the old pervert closely.

"Yups. And you really shouldn't do anything stupid or it will be the first and last without any big supervision," he replied.

The message took a moment to sink in, but as soon as it did, the kids couldn't help but grin at each other. A whole day without their kaa-chan and only Shizune, a slug and the little pig to watch over them – it was like vacation! It didn't take much to keep their onee-chan busy with something and it was so long ago, that they could go into the woods or into a village and be just kids, not studying, not being with adults the whole time and certainly not having to behave the whole time.

Afterwards they could still cover up the damage, but before that they could have so much needed fun!

* * *

><p>The two Sannin left the next day before dawn, but not after Tsunade nearly suffocated her kids with hugs and threatening everybody else with what she would do, if even one of her kids missed a hair when she came back.<p>

And then, as the sun arose behind some of Kumo's mountains the two Sannin were gone. The two kids felt like they were still dreaming. Sure, it was weird knowing that their kaa-chan was gone for the day and not coming back until tomorrow, but the feeling of freedom was stronger. And so they decided to just be free… for at least a while.

"Where do you want to go, Naruto-san, Anko-san?" Katsumi, one of their kaa-chan's summon asked them as they wanted to exit the hotel room through the front door. Scratch the freedom part… for the next minute.

"There you are, Katsumi-chan!" Naruto exclaimed, like he hadn't seen the dog-sized slug before, "Onee-chan said, she needs your help in the bedroom and thought you were outside eating breakfast."

"Then I shall help her. Please stay inside, you two."

The two kids nodded, while the slug went to the other door, yet not knowing that the two kids surprised the woman and tied her up with some stolen ninja wire from Jiraiya and talked TonTon into keeping it quiet for a bit - if he wanted his favorite meal today.

Grinning, the two quietly went outside. Sure, they would get in trouble for it later and shouldn't do it… but they just wanted to go to the park or the playgrounds and play with some other kids their age, even if it were only for a couple of minutes…

"I still say, we should have left Mukuro back at the hotel with onee-chan," Naruto said for the umpteenth time since they came up with their plan. They just reached the park and all the other parents and kids alike watched them afraid.

"That wouldn't be fair!" His imouto exclaimed, "It's not his fault, the other people fear him!"

"What kind of feline is he?" Somebody asked behind them. Surprised they turned around and saw a little boy with silver hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wore a pair of glasses and was probably Naruto's age. He looked at their fur ball not with fear, but awe?

Upon noticing that, his nee-chan run up to him and hugged him. Her brother just blinked in surprise. _"What just happened?"_

"I'm Anko and that's Naruto-nii. And Mukuro here is a tiger, thought… I have no clue what race of tiger," she took hold of his hand and refused to let it go beaming still happily at him, "And you? Who are you? What are you doing here? I haven't seen you in the village before. Are you new? Or are you just passing by? Do you-"

"Anko, stop. Give him a moment to answer first," the blonde said laughing. Never before, did he saw his little sister that excited. She was more a quiet kind of girl, to see her like that was really refreshing.

"Onii-chan!" She looked at him with faked anger. Mukuro just purred, but in her ears it sounded like they were both laughing at her.

"Gomen," he replied, still grinning.

The other boy laughed heartily at them. "My name is Kabuto. I am just passing through with my uncle. And you two? You don't seem to be from around here."

But before they could answer, they felt some really angry Killing Intent directed at them, followed by a really sweet voice.

"I am wondering too, Naru-kun, Anko-chan?"

Slowly they turned around, just to see their current babysitter behind them, with something yellow and sticky in her clothes and hair.

"I am sorry, Kabuto-kun. But the two have to help me clean up a room. Have a nice day," the medic-nin told the young boy.

With that she took hold of the two Senju and dragged them back to the hotel Mukuro all the time purring, while he walked behind them. As Anko tried to argue with the older woman, Naruto turned back, trying to say goodbye. He stopped however, as he noticed Kabuto smirking.

Something didn't feel right.

* * *

><p>It turned out that Katsumi used some of her acids to free Shizune from the wire. But the bedroom was ruined afterwards. So they had all day to clean it up under the watchful eyes of the summon, TonTon and their onee-chan.<p>

It just wasn't fair! So, they had a day of vacation from their kaa-chan, but it turned out worse, than being with her yelling all day long! What kind of game did Kami play with them?

They had just eaten supper, when an urgent knock at the door interrupted them. At first Shizune didn't want to answer it, but as all the other occupants of the hotel room watched her with raising eyebrows, she gave in.

She shot a warning gaze at the kids, who just nodded in acceptance. It was like saying "Yes, mommy, we will be nice". They didn't want to know, what else their onee-chan was up to if they did something "stupid" again.

As she opened answered the door, Naruto strained his ears and tried to hear about the conversation. After all - it wasn't every day, that you had somebody knocking on the door after sundown.

"Midori? What is it?" he heard Shizune say. Midori… He searched his brain for any Midoris he might know, while the woman on the other side of the door replied. But it sounded more like crying.

"_Her husband got hurt. He tried to take something out of a shelf in their cottage and it hit him instead,"_ Kura-chan said bored, _"And she was the pregnant woman your onee-chan checked up on yesterday. 39__th__ week if I remember correctly."_

He blinked in surprise. _"Thanks?"_

"_No problem, Gaki. I'm totally bored anyways."_

Shizune came back to the table they sat on. For a moment she watched them closely, staring at the dirty, but empty dishes, before sighing and grabbing her medical supplies.

"I will only be gone for five or ten minutes. If my patient is hurt worse, I will take him here. So, please behave!" She looked at them, a pleading look in her eyes.

Slowly, they nodded and Shizune ran out of the door, Midori following her. Sighing, Naruto took it upon him to put the dishes away. Anko stared at the door.

"_Something's not right,"_ Naruto heard her so quietly, he might have missed it.

"_But it's going to be alright," _he answered back, trying to reassure her. Even thought he felt it too, that nagging feeling in his stomach. Kura-chan just kept quiet.

Thanks to the weird seals on them, that somehow contained her in them, the two Senju couldn't just talk to the fox, but also to each other. Sure, it took more concentration, Kura-chan would hear it, and if they were tired only half of the "message" was "received", but if they focused enough they could also show memories to each other.

A puff interrupted Naruto's thoughts. Confused, he turned around, only to see a kunai next to the sink, where moments ago Katsumi sat. Blood covered the sharp metal and he took a step closer to his sister, who took hold of his left arm. Just now, he noticed Mukuro and TonTon glaring at the window.

"Kukuku… Hello little Naru-kun. Hello little Anko-chan"

Standing outside the window, grinning inside like the madman he was, sat the one man their kaa-chan cursed on daily basis.

Anko's father, Orochimaru.

Naruto could _feel_ the fox in him growling at the Sannin. And just looking into the Snake Summoner's eyes was scaring him so much, he just wanted to curl up and hide somewhere.

"We don't want anybody else to get hurt, do we?" The man asked them, grinning even wider, "So you should probably just come with me. That Shizune won't come back until tomorrow, anyways."

Naruto felt his little sister quiver. She hugged his arm with an unnatural strength for a little four-year-old. He felt her depending on him, but at the same time, he felt the Sannin's Killing Intent, which clearly stated: "Come with me or die".

"I will teach you. Your abilities are too unique to rotten away in such a shame of a village. You can't even fight some KI"

The blonde ignored the words. Or at least he tried to. It was like they went directly into him and not just through the ears. He felt his body protesting. Moving? Not moving? He didn't know what to do, not anymore. He had to-

"_SNAP OUT OF IT!"_

His eyes widened only a millimeter, but it was enough for Orochimaru to notice. The Sannin tried to raise the Killing Intent, just for a wooden spear to nearly go through his abdomen.

Naruto didn't lose any time. He shook Anko and called her name, hearing Kura-chan doing the same, just for her to blink at him confused.

"No time. We need to go into the woods," he told her and seeing the fire coming at the window and his mokuton spear-something he created burn, the blonde took the bag with all the tree seeds, "NOW!"

Still confused, Anko hold onto Mukuro and followed her brother, TonTon bringing up the rear. The blonde knew they could never outrun a Sannin. All the time they won Hide 'n Seek or Tag with their kaa-chan or ero-sennin, was simply because they either let them win or weren't really paying attention to the games. So, what were their chances of getting out of this mess?

"_You could summon me, but that would be like throwing oil into fire,"_ Kura-chan told him quietly.

"_What do you mean?" _He asked back, while they just reached the first trees outside the hotel.

"_Later. Keep it as plan B. Plan A is to go to the oldest tree you can find, throw out the seeds, and let them grow. Not the best way to hide, but hopefully the strongest and safest"_

Ignoring her earlier comment, Naruto did as instructed. He stopped them at a old oak and let trees grow around them like a wall, startling TonTon and Mukuro. He also made sure to cover the top like a roof. He wanted to end the chakra flow, when Kurama's voice called out to him again.

"_The roots! You need to create a floor with them or that guy will just dig his way through!"_

"_I'm on it"_

It took him a little bit more concentration, but he managed anyways. He never really shaped the roots before, just everything else that grew above the ground. It was a new experience to say the least.

He felt something on his arm again. Looking down, he met the tear strained face of his little imouto. TonTon and Mukuro sat behind her looking as focused as animals could look. Probably trying to sense where that Orochimaru was.

"_Onii-chan… What's going on?"_ Naruto felt pure fear with every word he heard in his head. He wouldn't, he couldn't be scared now. Anko trusted him. And she needed somebody to rely on.

"It will be alright," he told her quietly aloud. Keeping his own fear out of his voice was one thing… but keeping it out of his thoughts was an entirely different matter.

"I'm scared," she replied a little bit louder than him before, "I know, I've been happy as kaa-chan left… but now I want her back. Even if she is angry at us again…" Her voice became a little louder and Naruto hoped, nobody - meaning noOrochimaru – would hear her, "I feel so stupid for letting her go, for being-"

"Shhhh…" the blonde hugged her and tried to calm her down. But she just started crying again and snuggled into his yukata.

After what seemed like hours, her tears finally stopped. The two animals had lain down, but they still seemed rather awake. Naruto didn't know what to do. It wasn't like he wanted to go back to calming her down. He just didn't know, what they were supposed to do now.

Just then he heard Anko taking a deep breath in surprise. Turning around he saw a bright yellow eye looking back at him.

"Peek a boo"

The next things happened so fast, he was surprised his brain kept up processing everything. In surprise he jumped backwards and fell over one of Mukuro's paws, Anko stumbled backwards as well, and screamed. And with her scream, the trees around Orochimaru as well as parts of his hair caught fire and burned in a bright orange.

Surprised the Sannin jumped back, eyes wide. He put the fire on his head out, by simply slapping himself. But before he could attack them or Anko could stop her screams and the fire probably too, something white and spiky hit him from the side.

Naruto turned his head just in time to see his godfather kicking his old teammate to the other side of the woods. He dropped an unconscious Shizune next to them and summoned a toad just a head smaller than him.

"Stay here"

And he was gone.

* * *

><p><strong>Hi everybody!<strong>

**Sorry it took me so long. First school, than a lack of motivation, than vacation and applications for part time jobs and university, and, and, and…**

***sigh* **

**But now I'm back. Thanks to the new favorites and followers. And a really big THANK YOU to the last reviewer to my FF! I was really down that day, but after reading your comment, I was really happy again and decided to go into my room and start writing again. **

**It still took me a while to write and again I want to ask you guys if anybody of you wants or knows somebody to beta-read my story? Because I could probably write a lot faster than…**

**I got the story planned out until the last exam of the chunin exam. Two more chapters of childhood for the two Senjus and then I will bring Konoha back into the story. So, tell me what you think! Critique is welcomed as well as some praise – you choose ^O^**

**See ya next chapter!**


	10. Kumo Friends

_Chapter 9: Kumo Friends_

"Where are you going, Naruto-kun?" The blonde stopped, he already had his hand on the door, ready to open it, when Shizune's voice called out to him.

It had been about a year since Orochimaru attacked them. A lot had happened in these last 13 months. The two kids didn't see a lot of the fight, but the aftermath was shocking: burned trees, destroyed mountains, new rivers… Naruto was sure that nobody should ever judge one of the Sannins by their quirks in their personalities... they were a lot more dangerous than the normal drunken people you met at the streets.

Jiraiya had been severely injured and their kaa-chan arrived just in time to safe him. At the same day they left the small village in a hurry, fleeing from the Kumo-nin which would be coming soon. After all they fought in their territory… Anko hadn't said a word the whole time and it had been back then, that he overheard the other two Sannin arguing…

_Flashback_

"_It's not your fault, Hime"_

_The younger blonde turned around. Everybody else in the tent was sleeping… even Kura-chan seemed deep asleep within him. He didn't understand how they could just lie down so peacefully after everything that had happened! _

_Sure the two Sannin sat outside keeping watch, but his godfather was injured, he shouldn't be staying awake! So why did he insist on keeping Tsunade company had been beyond him… until now. _

"_I know… it's just," she sighed, "I feel so stupid. I've always seen Oro-teme in Anko… and now she reminds me so much of myself after I lost… my family one by one…" she snorted like she blamed Kami for it, "It's not even funny, with that big resemblance"_

_Silence filled the campsite. Far away an owl cried into the night. _

"_She's your daughter, no matter what she looks like"_

_Soft laughing rang through the clearing. Naruto was maybe just nine years old, but he wasn't stupid. He noticed the long looks their kaa-chan gave his younger sister. He couldn't blame her, but he also didn't know what to do about them._

"_Yeah… but now I am not sure anymore… Am I a good mother? She was so scared. And the fire… it was chakra based. I would probably bet my life on her chakra affinity being katon. It took so long for her to just calm down… And she wouldn't let me close to her. She let Naruto, but not me…" The younger Senju wasn't sure, but it sounded like she was starting to cry, he looked down to his imouto, who just wouldn't let go of his arm, even in her sleep, "her own mother… I-"_

"_You are a good person, Hime - yeah, a bit difficult at times and certainly fast with your fists. And she's more like you than you even realize. But just give her some time, I don't think she will ever hate you;" he laughed happily, before turning serious again, "There is however, something we should take care of first."_

"_So- he survived?" Everything sad and happy alike vanished from her voice and was replaced with a seriousness promising a painful death to one person. _

"_Yeah," he took a deep breath before continuing, "I am not sure how, but I think he was responsible for you being called to Ta no Kuni," he stopped shortly before speaking again and Naruto could imagine him gazing at his kaa-chan in wonder, "I am thinking about telling-"_

_A deep smack was heard and Anko squeezed his arm tighter. What was going on? Were they attacked? Were they-_

"_You won't," a deadly voice said and it took him a moment to recognize it as his kaa-chan's voice, "If you tell him, it will only be a matter of seconds until he figures out there's more to it and if he knows of them… I know sensei wouldn't make them stay in the village if I can convince him, but you know the old geezers in the council and Danzo… I will not let my children grow up in a village, where they either have to fight of dozens of different assassins from other villages or be pampered beyond Kami's underpants! And on top of both, you remember Fugaku and the other Uchiha, don't you? Really nice neighbors, don't you think?"Her voice had turned louder and higher with each word, she barely kept it quiet any more._

"_Okay, okay, I got it," his godfather replied in the millisecond she took a breath. He did _not_ want her to go on with that runt…_

"_I hope for you. Because as soon as I know that you told anybody about my babies, you will never even see them again"_

_Naruto had to take a deep breath to calm down. He knew the Killing Intent was solely for the old pervert outside, but he could still feel it in the tent, like it wanted to crash him any second now…_

_End Flashback_

Anko didn't spoke a word for the next couple of months, but her relationship to their kaa-chan improved a lot. Probably even without the two females really noticing it…

But whatever happened, they could still not get her out of her shell. It was just half a year ago, that Naruto found some Fuinjutsu for radios in one of his godfather's scrolls. And seeing her smile at some of their family's antics, he came up with the best/worst/weirdest plan ever to get her to talk again…

And it worked.

He had created four special radios for them and founded the Shi no Mononoke, a group of four _persons_ who just exist to prank people, him and Anko being the only humans in this aspect, Kura-chan and Mukuro using some kind of Genjutsu. It didn't take long for Anko to reluctantly accept the idea and to speak again. The fun they experienced did its magic! Because who could keep quiet if a certain ero-sennin's hair was bright pink with flowers glued in it?

But now, some months later, she was sick. An unusual fever and even thought everybody of them had medical knowledge, they knew it would be better for her, if they didn't heal her right away. Her body needed her immune system to work on its own and not with help from outside all the time…

His onee-chan and kaa-chan kept tabs on watching his little sister. But as soon as the Legendary Sucker found the casino, she went to have some fun… every day… And with his godfather not here, he got all adults off his back for the most time!

"I want to go into the woods," they were just staying in Yu no Kuni and the trees were something else in Naruto's opinion. He never saw such wide-rooted plants before! And it wasn't like he hadn't worked on his mokuton in the last year. He was good enough and could now even travel _through_ plants!

"Take TonTon with you," the medic-nin sighed, probably because Tsunade was gone again and she was left to watch them all alone, "And be back before supper at sundown"

"Arigato!" He hugged her, before grabbing the surprised pig and ran outside.

"_Geez! Don't yell, I feel like my head is going to explode," _Kura-chan cried out through his head, when they left the current hotel they stayed at.

"_Awww, come on. Don't be this way,"_ he thought back, walking through the forest. He wasn't sure if it was a hotel-thing… but every inn they stayed at was close to the borders of the village and this way also close to the forest. Not that he would complain.

"_This way?"_

"_You know what I mean"_

"_No I don't. Please tell me, little Naru-chan"_

The young Senju wasn't quiet sure, why she was threatening him again, but she was a woman… and he knew his kaa-chan… so he did the best thing and kept his silence, as he noticed foreign chakra signatures close by. Yu no Kuni had no shinobi village anymore, so much he knew. They were in a really small country between Hi no Kuni and Kumo no Kuni, so apart from Konoha-nin and Kumo-nin, there could also be some Nuke-nin around. Chewing on his lip, he decided to try out one of his kaa-chan's techniques. Not everybody had to be evil…

Focusing his chakra through his wooden sandals into the earth, he used his doton chakra to feel vibrations and interruptions in the earth. He wasn't that good with it yet, but he could still feel the four persons in a clearing to his left.

"_Oh,"_ Kura-chan's surprised voice rang through his head, _"That's interesting"_

"_What do you mean?"_

But the fox kept quiet. Naruto shrugged his shoulders and went into the direction of the four people. It didn't take him long to hear their voices. He stopped dead in his tracks, before his curiosity won him over and he silently and stealthily sneaked up on them.

He could still get out of there with traveling through the trees, he argued to himself, while putting TonTon back to the floor and motioning for him to be quiet and stay close to him.

"Karui you need to focus more or Omoi'll let flow your gore! And Yugito you might be a little kitty, but your claws can cut your enemies shitty!" A male voice exclaimed.

Naruto's sweat dropped. Was that some kind of code? He crept closer and was a little taken back with seeing a dark skinned muscle-pack with… HOLY! How many swords did this guy have? And did he really wear sunglasses? What the…

"Please stop rapping, sensei," a blonde girl sitting in front of him said in a matter of fact voice.

It was then that Naruto noticed the three kids in front of the… weirdo. All of them were probably one or two years older than him. They wore headbands and even if the young Senju couldn't make out the symbol on them, he noticed they didn't have a scratch going through them. So, at least they were no Nuke-nin… And they all had swords with them. The red haired girl and the silver haired boy had only one each, but the blonde girl had two strapped onto her back.

All of the three teenagers wore white tops and black shinobi pants. It looked like a kind of uniform his godfather once spoke about. He had said that in some hidden villages all shinobis were to keep up to a certain dress code until they reach jonin, but still…

TonTon stepped on a dried leaf and it sounded like a thunder crashing into the silent clearing. Naruto jumped, when a kunai landed next to his head in the bark of an old tree.

"Hi and Goodbye!" He said fast and turned around, ready to run away… when the weirdo stood in front of him, blocking his way. TonTon noticing the big shinobi growled like a small Mukuro at him. He did get a lot of growling lessons from said tiger.

"Not Goodbye?" Naruto asked. He felt so stupid for even wanting to figure out, who they were.

"You got a lot of trained chakra for the simple civilian, you are dressed as," he said, glancing at the pig, before looking back to the boy. The Mokuton user just thanked Kami for not letting him rap again.

"_Shoot! I am already suppressing most of your chakra – and you still got too much, Gaki"_

He ignored her and tried to think of a way out. Well, he could always go back or cry out for help, but he didn't want his kaa-chan to freak out… again. Maybe it was best, to just reshape the truth a little, like he always did after he got in trouble…

"Probably?" Naruto tried to smile like an innocent child. If it worked with his onee-chan, why not with this guy?

But he just raised one of his eyebrows, watching the blonde in front of him. Unknown to the Senju the Kumo-nin thought about how he didn't notice him until he was already so close to their camp and he was angry at himself for not noticing a little boy.

"Who are you, punk?" The red haired girl called out to him, while the other two just watched him in silence.

Naruto felt his eyebrow twitching. Punk? Did he look like a punk? That girl should probably thank Kami, that he hadn't inherited his kaa-chan's bad temper.

"You are one to speak," he just replied signing at her red spikes and trying to keep a straight face as hers took the color of her hair.

"You are no shinobi, are you?" The older man asked him again, "Who are you?"

Naruto took a deep breath and a step back from the giant in front of him.

"My name's Naruto and I am traveling with my kaa-chan and nee-chans through the Elemental Countries," it was the truth and if he just kept leaving out the important stuff; maybe that guy wouldn't do anything to him and the Sannin wouldn't freak out if she ever found out…

"You are traveling around?" The silver haired boy asked him, "Aren't you scared of bandits? What of the travel costs?"

"_Don't reveal too much and try to be nice. They can be good friends, Gaki" _Kura-chan's voice _sang_ in the back of his head. He'd never heard her that happy before… What was going on? Why was she so… delightful?

"Kaa-chan was a good medic-nin as she left her home, since then we are traveling around healing people" That was pretty close to the truth, but it was also what anybody could figure out, who went through the small village.

"And she trained you?" The man's eyes became slits; Naruto just nodded under the Killing Intent, unknown to him medic-nin were really becoming rare in the Hidden Villages and were happily seen, "Is she a Nuke-nin?"

That would have gotten them into a lot of trouble but the Senju didn't even have to fake his reaction. His mother would never betray somebody… as long as they didn't try to attack her or her family first.

"No! Kaa-chan would never do something to become a nuke-nin!" He lowered his voice and took a deep breath, "She only said, there was a mission, which went terribly wrong and then she didn't know if being a kunoichi was the right thing anymore"

Naruto remembered his mother trying to talk him out of becoming a shinobi. She'd told him so much about her own time as a kunoichi and some of its horrors. He could really understand, why healing others was more important to her than letting her fists speak. And even if she hit his godfather for all his peeking, she made sure to never maim him.

"Okay kid, so what were ya doing here?" He asked again and the blonde chewed on his lip, before noticing something else. Was he just going to let that guy ask him about everything and anything? He could at least tell him his name!

With a pout Naruto looked up to the giant, only noticing now that TonTon stopped growling, but still eyed the man suspiciously.

"You could at least give me your names, before you interrogate a ten-year old," he sat down on the floor. The more of his body connected with the grass and other plants around him, the better he could just escape if things got too worse. And he could still take TonTon with him if he focused enough.

He didn't notice the other shinobi watching him annoyed. Not everybody dared to just sit down in front of one of their village's heroes.

But the giant in front of him just laughed happily, before sitting down as well. Out of the corner of his eyes he noticed the redhead glaring daggers at him and the other two starting to smirk, expecting him to be sorry soon.

"I like you kid, you got guts!" The younger ninja's eyes went wide. What did their sensei just say? "My name's Killer Bee-sama from Kumogakure! And those" He pointed at the three teenagers "are my little ants. Red Fury Karui, Silver Cool Omoi, and Kitty Kid Yugito" Naruto didn't need to turn around to feel the cold glares behind him. But he still had to admit… he liked the nicknames.

"But you still didn't tell us, what you are doing here?" The now identified Karui yelled at him and TonTon took it upon her to growl at the kunoichi.

It just earned her three odd looks form the younger Kumo-nin.

"Well… kaa-chan's a great medic-nin and I am not that bad myself… but I want to be able to fight to. So, I wanted to just try and train with TonTon"

"A pig?" Omoi asked raising an eyebrow.

"Better a pig than risking kaa-chan's fury," the Senju shivered at the thought of his mother freaking out. She was mostly angry at his godfather, but he did not ever want to change that…

All the Kumo-nin's looked at him in wonder, Killer Bee starting to smirk.

"You can train with us," Naruto looked at man in wonder… nobody would just train somebody in the shinobi arts for free and judging by the looks they received from the three genin, he wasn't the only one thinking this way, "if you think about joining Kumogakure as a shinobi and maybe I should talk to your family too"

Naruto's eyes widened. He wasn't scared about, what the muscle pack in front of him could do to their family… but what his kaa-chan alone would do to him…

"Please don't! Do us all a favor and don't even get close to kaa-chan! She is going to kill you and that simply because you are a shinobi," he waved with his hands around like crazy. Whatever it may take… it wasn't the shinobis' fault that Naruto found them, "She hates every ninja she isn't friends with since the last war"

That wasn't exactly a lie. Tsunade really hated nearly every shinobi she didn't know before that. And somehow Killer Bee seemed to understand it, like he was still haunted by his own past.

"I see. So, would you accept? You don't have to join, but we can't stay here for too long and there you could learn a lot of other jutsus"

"What? But we can't even be sure who he is! What if he backstabs us!" Karui screamed out, angrily pointing at him, her male teammate mumbling to himself, probably thinking the same. But the weirdo just waved lazily at her, dismissing her argument.

"What's your answer?" He kept looking at him, scanning his eyes.

"Alright," Naruto shrugged his shoulders again. It sounded good to him.

"So, Gaki… ever tried Kenjutsu?"

Unknown to all the others, it wasn't Killer Bee's idea to make the deal with Naruto, but the idea of a huge ox-octopus with eight tails and the size of a mountain. A creature sealed within him for the past couple of years, a bijuu called Gyuuki.

* * *

><p>It had been two months since the Kumo-nin came to Yu no Kuni, two months for Naruto to sneak away in the morning and come back just before supper. Anko had been fully healed for the last month, but Naruto convinced her to play the sick girl act a little longer, otherwise they would have left already and he wouldn't be able to train with the Kumo-nins any more… Sure it cost him about 30 dangos a day, but it was worth it.<p>

Killer Bee and his genin wanted to leave two weeks later, but after they became friends with Naruto, they prolonged their stay and departure again and again.

Naruto just fought with one of his new sensei's sword against Yugito. It was just not easy to keep up with two swords holding only one. And even though Killer Bee helped him finding and using his third chakra nature – he had tried to hide his Mokuton chakra from the chakra paper - it was not easy for him to use it.

He dodged another strike of Yugito's raiton enhanced swords and tried to cut the next with his futon enhanced one. But he only managed to keep one sword away from him, before the other came crushing down at him from his other side.

Jumping back and panting, the girl did the same. Before they smirked and went at it again, striking, dodging, blocking, attacking… They put all of their last energy into it. A true smile crossed their faces and then they dropped at the floor.

"I just saw, one of your best draws," Killer Bee tried to rap again.

Karui and Omoi sat next to him, totally beaten from their fight before. The "Red Fury" looking like she wanted to kill a certain silver haired boy who tried to keep his distance from her.

Naruto turned around, so that he didn't have to face the floor anymore and Yugito followed his example, grinning at him. The first time they spared, Naruto lost in a matter of seconds. But after about two weeks of training, he got better and better, the girl becoming angry at him.

Then, Yugito pushed herself too much and hurt herself trying to train a little further away from their camp. Because of the tantrum she threw only hours ago, her team was reluctant to check up on her, but TonTon smelled her blood and took Naruto to her. It had been in the middle of the night and he was really happy, his sister could keep his disappearance a secret, because her wounds were by far more serious than anybody would have thought…

As the Senju was done with her, she didn't even have a scratch on her. And they finally bonded, becoming best friends without even noticing.

Naruto hold the sword out for his sensei to take back, but the man didn't move an inch. He just sighed and watched the kids around him. He already regretted his unspoken words. But before that…

"You like the sword, don't you? Ya can keep the blade, yo!" The Senju blinked at him.

"But I can't accept it!" he replied.

"Ya noticed it wasn't one of mine, it's for you going to shine" He raped again and the two genin next to him, watched him annoyed.

Naruto _had_ noticed it was a different sword. It was lighter and it was a little curved compared to his sensei's other swords. He was still a bit speechless and he wanted to-

"_Just accept it, Gaki! I don't think he is going to just approve of you rejecting his gift"_

"Okay. Thank you, sensei," he sighed in defeat, but smiled heartily, before noticing something else, something he dreaded to ask him aloud, "But why now?"

Killer Bee knew he had to tell them now. And he couldn't help but feel proud at his four students.

"We need to keep going," he said dead serious, "Or we will never get back to Kumogakure in time. A year, more important a training year is faster over than you think and-"

"No! Can't we stay a little longer?" Yugito called out. She didn't want to say goodbye to her first friend that saw her as a normal girl and didn't know about the huge feline inside her. It was a refreshing change.

"That's not possible. We will leave tomorrow morning. It's just about lunch time… so you still got until tomorrow morning"

"But what if we miss him too much? What if Yugito misses him too much and runs back here and-" Thankfully Karui stopped his little runt with smacking his head and that just seconds before the blonde teenager could get a hold of him, "Ouch! Sensei, without Naruto nobody is going to help me against the furies!" He was hit again. "See! Can't you just come with us?"

Sadly Naruto had to shake his head. He could never just leave his family alone. And he seriously didn't want to know what his kaa-chan would do…

Naruto suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. He felt something familiar close by, a familiar chakra signature. It took him another moment to recognize his sister and one look at Killer Bee told him, he had noticed the new presence too. His hand was already moving to his swords.

"Ehm. Sensei… Please don't kill my imouto?" He asked and pushed himself up with the use of his new sword.

Everybody blinked at him in surprise. Since their first meeting, they didn't ask about his family again… He just told them once, that his sister had been sick, but nothing else. After his colorful description of his mostly angry mother, they just didn't feel the need to know much more…

"You look half dead," she said riding on top of Mukuro into the clearing. That tiger had grown huge in the past year. If he kept that up, he wouldn't fit through a door any more…

"Thanks a lot, nee-chan"

While the Kumo-nins eyed the tiger in interest, Anko looked at each of them. She tried to figure out how strong they were or if they were just like the other annoying people in the village who tried to run away from Mukuro… because he still liked to chase after everything that tried to run away from him. But what her biggest question was: why did he befriend with these weirdoes…?

"What are you doing here? Kaa-chan isn't going-"

"Nopes. She went into the casino again. But onee-chan found a message from that ero-baka in her stuff… he wants to visit us and is going to arrive today," she said keeping a straight face, ignoring Naruto's pale one, before looking directly at Omoi, "How old are you? You aren't a albino and got the hair of a fifty-year old"

Karui started laughing hardly and starting to like the girl for that comment. Even the other two Kumo-nin couldn't stop the smirks from conquering their lips, only Omoi looked like crying his eyes out, mumbling something about stupid kids.

"You are kidding" Naruto asked without caring about the hair-comment.

"Sadly not…"

It took a moment for Naruto to let the message sink in.

"_Why didn't you tell me, as Anko figured it out, Kura-chan?"_

"_Your match made more fun to watch, Gaki"_

"_Thanks a lot"_, he replied sarcastic.

"_No problem, kit"_

"Shoot," the older Senju looked at his sister, "So onee-chan is trying to get rid of kaa-chan's hangover?"

"If she's going to find her in time... And not waste her time with some… other things on her way to the casino?" She smirked like a madman and everybody but Mukuro and Naruto felt like increasing the distance between themselves and the little five-year old.

Naruto sighed, he looked at his new sword and then to the first real friends in his whole life. He bit his lip and knew he would regret his next words later on.

"You should probably leave as fast as you can… If kaa-chan's clean again, she will notice you and see you as enemies, no matter what we would say to her… And as soon as ero-sennin is here…"

"Who is that ero-sennin, Naruto?" His sensei asked him, keeping his eyes on him. The blonde knew he was serious, otherwise he would have raped.

"The biggest perv and idiot ever, that would probably try to piss off Kyuubi and try to get away with it," Anko replied for him and as she noticed all the eyes on her, she tried to let it sound less… threatening? "He is an author now, but before that he fought with kaa-chan in wars or battles or whatever. If the two are together, I am _not_ forgetting to eat my vegetables"

"Better safe than sorry?" Yugito asked her grinning. She liked the little girl, and her tiger, because the tiger was just a bigger cat, but still smaller than her own fur ball… and hopefully not as deadly.

"Yups!" The younger Senju just nodded happily.

"We wanted to leave anyways little one, so now we're just faster gone," his students glared at their sensei.

"I hope we meet again," Naruto said, looking at all of them, "You are the greatest friends I ever made," TonTon oinked at him, "Sorry, the greatest _human _friends I ever made," he corrected grinning, "Thank you"

Yugito looked surprised at him, while the other genin just shrugged it off.

* * *

><p><strong>So… the new chapter was really fast this time… But first things first: Thanks for the review and all the new followers as well as my new favorite- THANKIES!<strong>

**I think I just want to get Naruto to Konoha already. All the background stories start to annoy me, but I need to get them done for later on. At first I wanted to get some Shi no Mononoke history into it as well, but that would have been a little much…**

**All the fun stuff about the pranksters will be in the next chapter, when they are going to visit another country ^o^ And then little blonde Senju-chan will finally get to Konoha XD I can't wait to write this chapter. **

**See ya!**

**PLEASE REVIEW!**


	11. A Day of Chaos in Suna

_Chapter 10: A Day of Chaos in Suna_

"Stop them!"

"Over here!"

"Don't let them get away!"

Dozens of Suna-nins tried to follow the four dark cloaked persons, who had the tendency to color the Kazekage Tower in bright green paint. And they didn't stop there. Whoever they were, they somehow dyed the hair of her first twenty persecutors in different neon colors. Those, who escaped their new style got feathers and flowers glued onto them.

To say the shinobi were pissed, was like saying Jiraiya was hugged from Tsunade for every time he peeked on women.

Naruto jumped from rooftop to rooftop. He would have never approved of his imouto's idea if it hadn't been for the Kazekage being in another country for some new treaty.

He put a hand up to his radio and activated the Fuinjutsu. It was hard figuring them out, but with Kurama's help, he created a set of four radios that transmitted a person's thoughts and could also be used to translate and animal's sounds into human words. Sure, it had been his godfather who had introduced him to the art of sealing, but he only showed him storage seals due to his research…

"_I made them go south. You guys all right?"_ He thought.

"_Yeah, but the guys annoy me… Can I_ please_ get rid of them?" _The bijuu answered back and seemed to purr.

"_No, Kura-nee! That's not nice,"_ Naruto could imagine Anko pouting and tried not to laugh. He still had to get away from the angry mob.

"_This one will be back at our headquarters in five minutes"_

Mukuro had a weird way of thinking/speaking, Naruto thought. But who else could say, they understood a huge tiger? Some weirdness he would just have to deal with.

"_Okay, I will go back and start the clean up. Don't take too long"_

Thoughts of _"Yeah, yeah"_, _"Got it"_, and_ "Affirmative"_ reached his brain through the radio.

Nodding, he turned around the corner into the next street and upon checking if it was empty, he let himself sink into the earth and traveled into their hotel room, hiding all traces of their absence and little adventure as fast as he could.

After the incident with Orochimaru after Tsunade left them alone, she decided it would be better to take them along when she did _need_ to heal somebody and risk letting them get discovered, instead of getting them killed. And if one of his godfather's best informants was hurt and his other colleagues in the same village already poisoned to death, they _had_ to do something.

For the younger Senju it just meant to be stuck in the hotel… officially. But if you grew up, training to become a shinobi, wanting to visit a Hidden Village in years… you tended to risk the Sannin's fury. And it wasn't like they _knew_, who the Shi no Mononoke were, right?

Just as he was done with hiding the left over paint, he noticed flames appearing behind him. And out of the fire emerged a cloaked woman who just threw the dark hood from her long red hair, showing her long and furry ears.

"Those guys were plainly annoying. And some of them dared insulting me! Please, let me torture them," an evil grin grazed her features, but the young Senju just sighed and shook his head.

"No, can't do"

"Damn it!" She vanished in red chakra, which went into Naruto's abdomen, and her cloak, as well as the radio fell to the floor.

Naruto picked it up and sealed it - together with his own prankster equipment - into the scroll he hid his sword in. After Killer Bee and the other had left, he couldn't just get home and say, he found it in the woods. He was already lucky enough they didn't notice the blade as he got back. But it could have just been because somebody still had a little hangover and the other adults were a little bit busy with that somebody…

If they had noticed, he would have been dead.

Right then a small boy entered the room via window. He was about half of Naruto's high and seemed a little stiff, but the Senju was used to it. Not a lot of people/tigers could get along with a reshaped body.

The boy took his radio and cloak off, to reveal his black and white stripped hair and… clothes? The first time he changed it had been through Kura-chan's chakra, he had only a little hair left on his head and had to wear human clothes. He could even speak on his own, what he couldn't do yet if he changed on his own account. But as he had exhausted all of her chakra, he became a huge tiger again and ripped all his clothes to shreds.

So to get past that little handicap, they changed the jutsu into keeping his fur like clothes around his upper body and legs. Sure, upon closer inspection it wouldn't look normal, but from far away it was only a weird kind of dressing. And even if somebody noticed… there were a lot people wearing fur hats out there…

Mukuro folded his cloak gently, before handing it over and dropping on his hands – instantly changing back into his feline body.

"_Where are you, Anko?"_ Naruto thought a little afraid. Even if Anko was good at hiding and getting out of trouble, he couldn't help but wonder if she was alright. She was his imouto after all.

"_Just got rid of the annoying pedophiles,"_ Naruto's sweat dropped, leave it to Anko to get into their mother's shoes and start calling people names, _"But I will take a little longer… Can you cover for me? I won't take long; I just need to… figure something out?"_

The blonde felt her reluctance and something else… he wasn't sure what it is, but it seemed important to her. And that's all he needed to know, after all she had done to help him keep his Kumo-nin friends a secret.

"_Try not to come home too late, I am not sure what kaa-chan would do and she seems ready to run out of here as soon as possible and after our little stunt…"_

"_Yeah, yeah. But she will still need a while till her patient is fully healed. Those stupid pervs take always so long to heal"_

"_Alright," _he sighed not bothering to correct her. If his godfather way a pervert it simply meant to her: Jiraiya=pervert=informant_ "Contact me if something goes wrong"_

Silence greeted him, but Naruto was used to it. Anko wasn't that talkative and even thought she didn't approve of it, she could hold her own. After they found out, she could use the Mokuton as well he had trained her in secret and slowly but surely she was becoming better. It seemed like the only thing hindering her, was her… fire-nature? She sometimes just burned down, what she created a second ago…

At least, he argued with himself, she knew when a situation became dire enough to call for help…

Or that the blonde hoped… But if he kept in mind that it was his imouto who took a tiger home as she was only three years old…

"Well, Anko will be home later," he told said tiger and Mukuro just lay down on the floor, yawning.

* * *

><p>Anko had been running from all of the Suna-nin and was quite surprised as they stopped following her. It seemed like they were scared of something. But of what? It couldn't be her; she didn't do anything but… a change of style?<p>

She started to slow down and turned around, trying to focus on the chakra around her through the earth and sand. The little girl wasn't as good as her onii-chan, but she could still tell that every house around her was empty… and the chunins stayed far away from her, not moving.

Why did they-

"_I made them go south. You guys all right?"_ Naruto interrupted her trail of thoughts.

"_Yeah, but the guys annoy me… Can I_ please_ get rid of them?" _She heard Kura-chan and had to roll her eyes.

"_No, Kura-nee! That's not nice,"_ She pouted. Sure she could understand her… somehow, but that didn't mean she had to think about ripping the poor humans apart.

"_This one will be back at our headquarters in five minutes" _Her Kuro-kun replied, while she walked through the deserted streets, not really caring about the conversation.

"_Okay, I will go back and start the clean up. Don't take too long"_

With a tired _"Yeah, Yeah"_ she turned off her radio. Her onii-chan could still reach her without that thing. Sure it cost more chakra, but it wasn't like they hadn't got enough of it through Kura-nee. Sighing she took her hood of, it was just too hot with the dark cloak.

She looked at one of the shops. The sign on the door said it was open, but nobody was there. It was completely empty. As she looked in one of the restaurants, she saw the food still lying on the table and some chairs were thrown to the ground. But it was still empty. Every living being was gone.

Why did the people all leave? And that's probably in a hurry, too? She hadn't even seen a dog since she had entered the district!

Then she noticed Kura-chan returning into her part of the seal. It was just like the twitching feeling in her stomach finally stopped. But thankfully the fox didn't choose to comment her wandering around.

Slowly, she kept on walking and tried to find at least somebody. It couldn't be that a complete district in the middle of such a huge village was just left empty from one moment to the other, that is!

"_Where are you, Anko?"_ Her onii-chan called out to her.

"_Just got rid of the annoying pedophiles, But I will take a little longer… Can you cover for me? I won't take long; I just need to…"_ She said watching turning around the corner and seeing a destroyed house with blood on splattered on its destroyed walls. It took her a moment to focus back on the conversation, _"…figure something out?"_

A moment of silence followed, before he answered her:_ "Try not to come home too late, I am not sure what kaa-chan would do and she seems ready to run out of here as soon as possible and after our little stunt…"_

"_Yeah, yeah. But she will still need a while till her patient is fully healed. Those stupid pervs take always so long to heal"_, she tried not to sigh and complain about that stupid idiot, the Toad Sannin called informant. Sure, she had only seen him for a moment, but that was enough for her to identify a baka, when she saw him.

"_Alright. Contact me if something goes wrong"_

Anko ignored it and inspected the house closer. It looked really solid. Good enough to hold its own against several of her fire and wood techniques, so whatever hit it must have been really strong… And all the blood - it was enough for three grown adults! She wasn't sure, if she wanted to look inside and turned away. Just judging by the smell it couldn't be something pleasant…

That's when she noticed him sitting on the roof across the bloody scene. The boy was maybe only two or three years older than her, but he certainly appeared younger. Without her medic-nin training she would have guessed him being her age instead! He was just too malnourished and way too skinny. His fire red hair was dirty and something seemed to be written on his forehead.

"Hi," she called out to him, but he just spared her a sleepy glance. Not used to being ignored, she jumped up to him, hitting him on the head with as less chakra as she could master – the Senju wouldn't want to knock him out accidently, "I'm talking to you!"

The sand around him flew softly around him, like it was blown from a non-existent wind. Slowly, he looked at her, an afraid look in his eyes, while moving his hand to the back of his head. The redhead winced in pain, before his eyes widened.

"How?" He asked her softly and she just blinked surprised, "How did you hit me? How did you… silence her?"

The young Senju just blinked at him. What now? What was she supposed to have done?

"Do I have to hit ya again?" She crossed her arms annoyed. First he didn't spare her a glance and now? Now he kept asking her weird questions. Well, technically it only had been one, but still… She was the one with the missing answers!

"Where are all the people? What happened here? And why are you the only one here?" She had a couple of questions more, but those weren't making her that curious.

He just blinked at her, before slowly looking at the scene of crime. The redhead moved his left hand up, leaving the right on the back of his head, and the sand followed slowly.

"Mother wanted their blood, so I gave it to her," he moved his pointer finger in circles and the sand corns created a sandstorm in the size of a golf ball, "And now she's quiet. She is quiet… for the first time"

Anko's eyebrow rose. Okay… What was that guy? Did he have some case of schizophrenia? A psycho-

"_Just the container for my youngest brother"_

The younger Senju blinked surprised. Kura-nee's answer confused her so much she forgot she was standing in front of the weird redhead and spaced out completely.

"_How do you know?"_ She asked her.

"_I can feel it. The rest is up to you to figure out. But try to not judge a book by its cover,"_ with that the bijuu's presence vanished from her mind and the girl knew she had gone to Naruto, giving her and her thoughts some privacy.

"-lo? Are you alright?"

Anko blinked and found herself looking straight into a pair of green eyes. She instantly noticed the bags under them, when was the last time the boy… jinchuriki slept? She stepped back and would have fallen from the roof if his sand hadn't created a flying step stone for her.

"Of course!" he shrieked back and she bit her tongue, before adding a silent "Thanks". She stepped back onto the roof, the boy giving her some needed space. He didn't seem as crazy as she first thought…

But what was wrong with the boy? Kura-nee said he was a jinchuriki – just like her. So, who was that mother he spoke about? And why did she want blood? Wait; didn't he say something like she shut her up?

She sat down, taking a deep breath. She wasn't the person to sit still and start a calm conversation. She was far too fiery.

"My name's Anko," the young Senju looked expectantly at him.

"Gaara no Sabakuno," he kept gazing at her, his fear gone and replaced with gratitude "How did you silence her?"

"Wait a sec," she exclaimed pointing at him, "You think your bijuu is a female?" She laughed heartily, even without knowing of his jinchuriki status before, it was common knowledge that the Ichibi Shukaku was in Suna's hands… and he was the only one.

"She is my mother"

Okay, _now_ the girl knew for sure that something was _not_ right in his head. But because of that, she liked him… sane people were just too boring.

"Stupid," she said smiling, "Shukaku's a guy. So you should start calling him daddy if ya want to"

He didn't look angry at her. It was more like he was confused of her... and something else, but she just wasn't sure what it was and what to think of it.

"Why are you afraid of me? I can't remember threatening to kill you"

He kept staring at her and Anko was sure he could remember every inch of her face by sundown if he kept it up. Anyways, before she could snap at him, he spoke up again, his calm voice surprising her.

"You hit me…" The girl blinked a big question mark on her face, "Nobody ever hit me before… and you silenced her… him"

It took her a moment to realize what he meant. Somehow, something the bijuu controlled protected Gaara and she disrupted it with her Mokuton chakra. Granted, her control over the special chakra was far, very far from being perfect, but she was still able to use it. Her katon chakra just prevented her from using it to its fullest potential. But it was this special chakra that must have reacted with the bijuu or at least with the seal.

Thinking back to her kaa-chan's explanations about the Mokuton chakra, she knew that it wasn't just a mixture of earth and water chakra, but also the first healing chakra ever discovered. It was the creating element. Because what could you possible create out of fire, wind or lighting? Nothing of its sub-elements would be able to live on its own? Nothing could compare to the trees the first Mokuton user created decades ago and still lived.

Also, Mokuton chakra was the exact opposite of a bijuu's youkai like chakra, which was the most destructive power one could find. It was because of all that, that her great-grandfather Hashirama was able to tame the huge beasts. The healing and calming abilities of its pure form changed the Tailed Monsters into loveable little pets.

And Shukaku felt that chakra in her.

"Did you want to…" She signaled to the blood down in the street. As bold as she always acted, she was still just a six year old girl and had never been confronted with dead bodies before. Every injured or sick person she had met so far, was released of her families care in perfect health.

"Mo- he wanted me to, so I did it," he told her like speaking about the weather.

"If he had been quiet… would you have left them alone?" Anko asked him eyeing him suspiciously as he looked away.

"They would have left… run away…"

She wasn't sure if she felt pity, responsibility or something else, but she took out the seeds Naruto gave her to train. It took her a moment to select the right one; both Senjus preferred vines, because you could so easily shape them into different forms and tying people up in their soft branches, but she had to train with flowers and trees as well…

But as she had it, she tried to put some of her Mokuton chakra into it as she let spread a small leaf out of it. If she could keep it up without burning it, she could probably create something which Gaara could use as a way to control the bijuu, before it could hurt him – she just hoped Kura-nee wouldn't feel offended…

"Okay, give me your arm," Anko looked up and saw him staring at the seed, eyes huge like plates and mouth open. She rolled her eyes and took hold of his left wrist, "Please try and move the sand with your other hand, I don't want to interrupt your abilities"

Slowly he nodded and did as he was told, while the young Senju let the vine grow around his arm. It took all of her concentration to put Mokuton chakra into it and not burn it down instead as well as to focus said energy not to be used to create new leaves, branches or roots, but to connect with a part of Gaara's chakra system.

She inspected it a moment before nodding. It should work and stay where it was… as long as it wasn't hit by any lighting…

"I can still…" with huge eyes he moved the some sand into the shape of a ball, before changing it into a pyramid, then into a dice, "…control it, but she-he… he is quiet"

The girl smiled, he looked so much younger than her and she felt like she was the older one developing a soft spot for him: "It will probably only hold a couple of years as it is, but say: Thank you, oh great Anko-sama!" She said teasingly.

"Thank you, Anko-chan," the girl become as red as Kurama's fur, trying to hide it by coughing and turning around.

"You're welcome," she muttered silently, before remembering something else, "But you are not under any circumstances ever allowed to tell somebody of those abilities of mine, understood?" She eyed him and let some of her Killing Intent out. For a six-year old she had quite a lot, which wasn't that surprising considering two Sannin and a bijuu being a part of her family.

"But," she added as an afterthought, "You can tell onii-chan if you need any help. He's better with it than me anyways… Just keep watch for a blonde who listens to the name Naruto and would heal even his worst enemy"

The young Sabakuno blinked before nodding.

"I will take your secret into my grave if I have to," Now that his thoughts were finally free from the bijuu, he noticed something different, "Yashamaru-ji will be angry"

"Your uncle?" She wasn't sure why, but it felt like his family was one screwed up bunch of weirdoes… not that hers was any better.

"He takes care of me. Father has too much to do… and my siblings… we don't really know much of each other," Anko wasn't sure if she imagined the sorrow in his voice. The jinchuriki seemed to not have a good time in his life. She had to wonder, how people would react if they knew of Kura-nee in her…

"Does not sound that bad," she saw the questions written all over his face, "Mom's an alcoholic and gambles all our money away, onee-chan's so busy with keeping tabs on her, that she forgets about onii-chan and me at times, while Ero-ji is mostly away peeping on women. And did I mention our pets? It had taken lots of time to keep our tiger from eating our house-pig… not to mention all the traveling," she looked at him, "I have absolutely no clue, what your family is like… but whatever might be wrong with them, they are still family"

"I never said that I have problems with them," Gaara replied perplexed.

"Yeah, but you didn't need to," she watched him closely for a second, "Life as a jinchuriki is never easy from what I heard"

Slowly the Sabakuno nodded, thinking about everything the girl in front of him had said. He wasn't sure why, but he trusted her. Then his eyes widened a fraction.

"You are the one responsible for the trouble at the Tower"

She stuck her tongue out, before grinning from ear to ear: "Guilty! But that had been lots of fun."

"You did it to prove your existence?" Gaara asked her and now she was the confused one, before her smile returned tenfold.

"You could call it that. Wanna try it? It's better than sulking about the dead – just make sure to make up for the kills, got it?" She stood up and started walking to the other side of the roof.

"Why do you suggest it to me? Why do you ask of my company, when everybody else-"

"Because you are a human being! And a nice one at that if we can keep that bijuu of yours on the leash or at least give him an anger therapy," the girl felt his need to argue flame up and turned around. She was tired of talking and just wanted to do something fun. The next words came out, before she realized it, but that didn't mean they weren't sincere from her heart…

"Just consider it as something friends do, when they hang out"

"Friends?"

"Are you coming now or what?"

Anko put her hood up and together they started playing pranks on the poor village.

They never knew what hit them as they noticed their personal monster becoming a carefree prankster…

* * *

><p><strong>First: THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS AND FAVES!<strong>

**I was just too happy with each mail I got telling me there are new people out there who enjoyed my story- it makes me really hyper and makes me want to write everywhere! Thank you!**

**This chapter had been Anko-centric for the most part, but hey! In canon you read/see so much about the Uchiha and it's still called Naruto XD**

**This was the last chapter before Konoha! I can't wait to get that blonde Senju finally into the village... Oh, and yeah… Gaara is about two years younger than in canon, it will all make sense later on. **

**Also, considering there had been no jinchuriki in the village and even the Hokage didn't know about Naruto (Kakashi knows when to keeps his mouth shut or suffer a painful death from two Sannin and get haunted from his sensei afterwards), there will be some differences to canon…**

**But you will see next chapter.**

**PLEASE KEEP REVIEWING! ^O^**

**See ya! ^0^**


	12. Welcome to Konoha!

_Chapter 11: Welcome to Konoha!_

"Okay, don't use any advanced medical ninjutsu… and none of your Mokuton jutsu… even better – don't use any jutsu classified as C-ranked or higher at all! Try to move slower and don't enhance your punches with chakra! And don't use-"

"I get it already!" Naruto interrupted his godfather. He had heard everything already over twenty times – and that was no exaggeration; he had stopped counting the advices at twenty-four.

Jiraiya just looked at him for a second: "We should have gotten those weights. Once the truth gets out, I will be so dead," he muttered under his breath.

It was a year after their visit in Suna and Naruto had done everything he could think of to get his mother into allowing him to travel with his only male family member still alive. He wouldn't have been able to pull it off without Anko and their none-human companies. They had to get him to stay away from the Onsen, hide those Icha Icha books, and give him wrong alibis on more than one occasion.

But all of their affords finally paid off and as they said their goodbyes, Naruto finally told the Sannin about his plans of becoming a medic-nin.

It had stunned the old shinobi speechless for a couple of minutes much to the amusement of TonTon and Kura-chan. And as the legendary Sannin got back to his senses, he reluctantly agreed…

Who wouldn't if their new script was so close to getting shredded?

Now the odd looking group of a little pig, an old brooding man, and a now dark haired twelve-year old were walking to Konoha. Naruto figured that his blonde hair was too rare, so he used mixed a dark color and changed it. After all, you would expect a Henge from a shinobi and break it with a simple Kai. But as a medic-nin and poison master some sands and herbs were enough.

It would have been so peacefully if his godfather would just stop naming dozens of limitations. Because he just knew, who had to answer the Slug Princess if she figured out where the blonde boy was…

"Well, at least you don't need to worry about showing off with your Genjutsu," he joked, finding a little comfort in that one aspect.

Cold blue eyes met his and he had to wonder if that Killing Intent came only from Naruto, before he shrugged it off.

"Thanks a lot, Ero-sensei"

"Listen Gaki, You probably know how to hold back and all. I mean, you all traveled undercover through nearly all the countries I know of! And even if one or two people started becoming suspicious of you, you always got away in time. However," he stopped walking and waited for the boy to look at him, "Now you are going to be in the middle of a Hidden Village. Shinobi are everywhere. And if I say everywhere, I mean _everywhere_"

"I know," the Senju sighed in defeat and resumed his walk down the road, "Don't worry, I will keep a low profile. I just want to become a medic and get started in the hospital"

"You- WHAT?" the Sannin screamed, before taking hold of his arms and turning Naruto around, faster than the legendary Yellow Flash would have been able to, "Don't get me wrong, Gaki. That's a good, nice, and noble thing to do but- WHAT are you going to tell them if they ask WHERE you got your knowledge from?"

"There are always books and scrolls-"

"That you can only get your hands on, after you became chunin. Don't think because your mother got all that knowledge stuffed in your head, you could find it in a civilian library," he interrupted the blonde, now TonTon stopped walking as well and looked back at them, an annoying oink escaping his mouth, "Sure, medic-nins are needed in every village I can think of, but it's a delicate subject. It's knowledge is limited to people who are trusted and proved to be discrete"

"What about another traveling medic-nin?" Naruto asked, slowly understanding his problem.

"Somebody else, who is on par with Hime's insane skills and not snatched into another Hidden Village? Even if you got a good explanation for that, Sensei will still want to hear were your knowledge comes from and mentioning your mother is a huge no!" Jiraiya replied.

"So, all the scrolls about medical ninjutsu you can look up, when you reach chunin?" The Mokuton user asked, wanting to make sure.

A slow nod from the huge Sannin was all he got. He grinned at his godfather, who just knew something bad was coming his way.

"Then I will just have to make chunin before that," the kid responded and got out of his hold, before picking up the little pig and walking to the huge gate at the end of the road, leaving the older man to look at his back.

_Tsunade was so going to kill him._

* * *

><p>Hiruzen didn't think this day was going to be different from the other ones, he had so far. As he stood up, got ready for his office and headed to the Hokage Tower, everything had been the same as the day before… and that day before… and that- what was he even thinking of?<p>

Since his successor died, he had gotten back into his robes and resumed his old job… and it was slowly killing him. The same routine day in and day out, his only highlights were when his grandson tried to _assassinate_ him or when Fugaku Uchiha went to visit him, just to complain about the discrimination of his clan.

But sadly his old hands were tied. He couldn't just hand his hat to a nine-year old academy student. And he couldn't do anything mayor against the discrimination without his only female student back in the village and council. Konoha's laws asked for a Senju present to accept changes in any new contracts if they concerned the Uchiha and the other way around. It was one of the Thirteen Founder Rights to ensure, that none of the two clans could be played favors. But now, after her absence for so long it became ridiculous…

The Sarutobi just signed another paper, when he noticed a familiar chakra enter the tower. It took him a moment to realize… he _entered_ the tower?

The old man blinked in surprise and stopped working.

Yes, that was his other student's chakra and he apparently used the front door and not his window for the first time in twenty years. Just then he noticed two different chakra sources next to the Sannin. The Hokage would have laughed if it hadn't been for the ANBU watching him to ensure his safety, it felt like he had a fox and a pig with him!

Just then the Sannin knocked on the door.

"Enter," he commanded and put the papers to the side. Jiraiya with manners? He wasn't exactly sure he had his little student in front of his office…

"Hello Sensei!" The door opened and nearly crushed into some furniture, revealing the Toad Eremite together with… a little brown-haired boy and a pig in the kid's arms, "You look ten years older again"

"Nice one, Jirai-chan," the old Hokage joked, now sure again that he had the little troublemaker brat in front of him, "What can I do for you?"

He could have imagined it, but the Sannin seemed to hesitate a moment before he continued: "Right down to business. You could have at least asked for one of my new books"

That really made the older man grin. He had thought about contacting his student for the newest edition of his books, but he still had to uphold his appearance in front of a kid and a... pig.

"I got some new clues, but first," he signed for the boy and he took a step forward, "That's Naruto and his annoyance of a pet-nin," TonTon oinked and showed the Sannin his sharp teeth, "I kind of promised the Gaki to get him into the academy?"

Hiruzen's eyebrows rose. Did that mean Jiraiya finally accepted the deaths of nearly all his students? And had trained the boy? It would be a great win for their village if he turned out only half as good as their Yellow Flash.

"Do you know any jutsu, Naruto?" He asked, while looking for the academy papers. If the boy was good enough, he could put him in next years team placements.

"Hai, two different Bunshin, Henge, Kawarimi, and some other small stuff," like medical Jutsu, the Rasengan, some futon and mokuton jutsu, he added in his thoughts.

"You can throw him straight into the Genin Exam, Sensei. He's got the right age and all," the Sannin spoke up and Hiruzen looked at him. Something didn't feel right, but he wasn't sure what. Nevertheless he needed to make sure the loyalties of his shinobi were on the right side. He couldn't have any traitors… not after what his other student had done…

"Then tell me, why I should trust the boy?"

"Straight forward again? Well, you trusted both his parents with your life and before the Gaki would play an Orochimaru on you, I'm stopping peeping on women," he exclaimed.

"Alright," the Hokage nodded and handed a couple of papers to the boy, "The next Exam is in three weeks, I want you to visit the lessons from now on. But you will need full scores on each of the tests or I can't accept you, Naruto. You miss credits to back you up. You aren't going to stay in Jiraiya's apartment, are you? It's a mess, I wouldn't recommend," both ignored the angry yell from the Sannin, the Senju just grinning, the Hokage smirking. Naruto could tell, he already liked the old man, "Here's the key for an apartment close by, but you will need to pay for it-"

"Take it out of my banking account," the Toad Eremite interrupted looking outside the window with an angry scowl on his face.

"Thanks, Ero-sensei," Naruto replied grinning and the Hokage had to wonder, how they got to know each other. And he felt slightly surprised, when Jiraiya didn't outright yell at the boy for the nickname.

"I would recommend it if you could wait for Jiraiya outside for a moment. In the meantime you can fill out the papers," Sarutobi watched the boy nodding and stepping outside - the pig hot on his heels.

"You want to know about his parents and why I haven't told you of him?" Jiraiya asked, still looking out of the window. The Hokage's silence was answer enough and defeated the Sannin sighted, "His dad died as Kyuubi attacked and his mother was so angry at the bijuu and her loss, that she just shut herself off of the world for a very long time. Let's just say I kind of met them by accident," Sarutobi raised a brow with a questionable look, "He had gone through a lot and showed good chakra control. So I figured if I show him the village his parents grew up in, he might want to become a medic here?"

The village leader stayed silent for a while, preparing his pipe, before he turned to meet his student's gaze: "We shall see. So, what other news did you bring me this time? Did you bring a new Icha Icha book by accident?"

* * *

><p>While the older shinobi discussed the political situation outside of Konoha's walls (and the newest of Jiraiya's books), Naruto tried his best to fill out the academy application papers. All the time wondering, why they would want to know about his likes and dislikes and even about his "worst dream ever".<p>

"Crazy," he muttered under his breath. TonTon had just lain down next to his feet. While watching her, Naruto couldn't help but wonder how his sisters and kaa-chan were doing without him…

"_Missing me too, Naru-chan?"_ Kura-chan's voice greeted him in his thoughts and he smiled softly.

"_Maybe? How is everybody?"_ He asked back, smiling softly.

"_Your mother was really annoying for a long time, drowned herself in dozens of sake bottles. Your onee-chan said it had to do with that necklace of yours," _the fox answered. Since Naruto left them, she became a messenger of sorts, between Anko and him.

Then it sank in. The necklace… did his kaa-chan still believe it to be cursed? He could still remember Shizune telling him this story, before Anko was even born… He was really surprised that his mother gave it to him.

_Flashback_

"_You should get a new yukata in the next village you are going to stop, this one is really old. And I don't think you will fit in it," his Onee-chan told him, showing the piece of clothing._

"_It looks big enough for me… and it's green and torn! Can I keep it? Please, Onii-chan?" Anko exclaimed grabbing it. She loved all clothes that were too big for her. _

"_Sure," Naruto answered shrugging his shoulders. His sisters wanted to help him packing, before he would leave the next day, while the Sannin were in the next room, arguing from the sounds of it._

"_I will get some money for you to buy a new one," Shizune told them and left the room, mumbling about old perverts not using their own money._

"_You will tell me how everything is, right?" His imouto asked with an evil smile. _

"_I already told you," he replied grinning._

"_Just making sure, you won't forget!" Both started laughing, but were interrupted by somebody stepping into the room._

"_Kaa-chan?" Naruto asked, unsure about what his mother wanted._

_She smiled softly and kneeled in front of him, biting her lip. She seemed to gather her courage, something neither of her kids had ever seen before. It was so surreal._

"_Look, brat!" She finally started and the younger blonde was scared to death, did she find out, where he wanted to go? Or did she find out, what he wanted to do? She wouldn't kill him, would she?_

"_I-" She took a deep breath, "You will not die, while being away, you got that?" He nodded as fast as he could, "Good. Now, this will be your first time of traveling without another medic-nin nearby. You have to take care, don't get sick or cut yourself with a stupid stunt. And don't forget to brush your teeth!"_

"_Kaa-chan!" Naruto exclaimed in embarrassment. Did she really have to add that last part?_

"_Look at you, Naruto-kun. You are all grown up, from that little boy, I once hold in my arms…" in the background Shizune and Jiraiya entered the room, but nobody felt stupid enough to speak up._

"_Close your eyes, Naru-chan"_

_The blonde boy obeyed. He only hear the soft sound of shuffling clothes and a gasp for air, before something touched his neck softly. _

_Slowly he opened his eyes and looked down. He wore the necklace of his great grandfather. The blue crystal reminded him of the sky and it seemed to glow softly. _

_Happily, Naruto looked up. It could have been a trick of the light, but he thought his mother looked ready to cry, before giving him a bright smile._

"_Take care of it"_

_End Flashback_

He played a little with the crystal, before pushing it back under his yukata. He of course knew how rare chakra crystals were and he didn't want too much attention if he could help it.

"_You will take care of them?"_ He asked, but already felt the reassurance of the bijuu.

Then he heard some soft footsteps coming at him, they came from downstairs. Having already filled out all of the application papers, Naruto waited for the person to appear around the corner of the hallway.

The man came with fast and strong steps. He looked angry and wore traditional dojo clothes, which were way too elegant for a normal shinobi. His black eyes looked straight at him, before he passed him and went for the door leading to the office of the Hokage - only to stop and turn around.

"You are no client and I've never seen you in the village before. Who are you and what do you want?" He asked in a demanding voice making Naruto glare at him and TonTon started to growl. But before either of them could answer, the door opened.

"You got the papers filled out, Gaki?" Jiraiya asked, grabbing them, and handing them his sensei who suddenly stood behind him.

"Jiraiya of the Sannin," the man in front of the office greeted him with a small bow.

"Uchiha Fugaku," the pervert replied with a little bow.

Naruto raised his brow. Was that how you greeted clan heads? Was he expected to be all polite himself one day? He was the last Namikaze and the first born Senju… with mokuton abilities nonetheless…

"So I assume this is your apprentice?" Fugaku asked without even looking at the kid and TonTon growled louder.

"Not really," the Sannin responded, "more like a tag along to get rid off in the village. But we really have to go. Have a nice day, sensei. Fugaku," he bowed a little, the clan head doing the same, before he went to the stairs – Naruto and TonTon following him.

"You don't seem to like him, do you, Ero-sennin?" His godson asked him, catching TonTon who had jumped at him in the hope of being carried.

"Hyuugas and Uchihas behave like the biggest assholes I've ever met! And while I don't really hate them, I don't trust them either. Some years ago, there were rumors of the Uchihas wanting to kill good old Sandaime"

"But they didn't," Naruto mumbled softly.

"But every rumor has a true origin, Gaki. That's a lesson, you should never forget, got it?" The boy nodded and Jiraiya took a deep breath.

"We will get you some food and some other supplies for you, before getting settled into your new apartment. Kami knows what your mother would do to me if I don't take care of you getting enough food or whatever!" His gaze wandered along the roves, "And then you gotta meet someone," he added smiling evilly.

Naruto just ignored his godfather's _crazy moment_, much to his own delight and Jiraiya's annoyance.

After getting lots of scrolls, ink, senbons, kunai, shuriken, and food, which did not only consist of ramen; Naruto finally got to see his new apartment for the first time. And he loved it. It was in between the apartment of somebody named Hatake Kakashi and Yuugao. Jiraiya had explained that the apartment blog was only used by shinobi, and while being very dangerous, it was also the safest place in the whole village not adding the places with constant ANBU protection.

Naruto thought of his apartment - and he had still trouble thinking of it as his own - as perfect. Maybe a little bit big, with kitchen, living room, bathroom, and _two_ bedrooms, but it was fully equipped. And he could use the second bedroom as a study room or for a patient who he had to keep a close eye on… or even for throwing his godfather in the bed, after the good man passed out, because of too much sake…

"Will be right back, Gaki," said a too joyful Jiraiya, but before Naruto could stop him, he already vanished.

He put the food into the kitchen and unpacked his sealing scrolls filled with herbs and different seeds. He was halfway done putting his clothes and weapons into the first bedroom, when he heard voices from the living room.

"Why won't you tell me, what you want, Jiraiya-sama?" A voice asked, but she didn't seem annoyed or excited… it was more an emotionless, monotone voice.

"You sulked long enough. So, whatever happens, don't blame it on me, but my dead student," The pervert replied.

Naruto blinked in surprise. Did that shinobi knew his dad? But his godfather didn't even tell the Hokage… so why another person of the village?

"Oi! I don't know, which of those herbs are used for that special tea of yours and I don't want to poison our guest. A little help would be very much appreciated!"

The boy sighed and went into the kitchen. While he was used to Jiraiya's blatant stupidity about everything you could find in that particular room of the house, the gray haired shinobi in ANBU clothes staring at TonTon was new to him. And even more surprisingly, he was a stranger to Naruto, but the pig didn't growl at the man! She had growled at every shinobi he ever met… but not at him?

"Jiraiya-sama, isn't that Shizune-san's pet?" The shinobi asked.

"Do you know my onee-chan?" Naruto asked. The man moved his head upwards to look at a smiling Sannin, before slowly turning around and putting his eyes on the boy.

Only now Naruto saw that his whole face with the exception of his right eye was covered by a mask and his hitai-ate, but even that one eye showed more shock than anything else. The mokuton user looked at the man's clothes. They were old, but not torn and well cared for. Just then did he notice the wolf mask in his left hand.

"Na-na-ruto?" He asked and the boy slowly nodded.

"Yes, Kakashi. We had to cover up that blonde hair of his, but medics have their own little surprises to do it without Henge or Genjutsu, don't they? I need you to watch him or Hime is going to kill me if she ever finds out, I left him here alone, so," the pervert went between the two and waved his hands around, "Naruto meet Hatake Kakashi, your new neighbor and babysitter, when I am out of the village. Maybe he can even help you get into the hospital unnoticed and play medic-nin-won't-get-noticed or something. And Kakashi re-meet Senju Naruto Minato, son of your good old sensei and that crazy teammate of mine. Time runs so fast, I think you wouldn't believe me if I tell you, I met Kyuubi again and Hime got another kid. And you wouldn't believe how weird that pregnancy was."

Kakashi could only blink, which was the only warning the other occupants of the room got, before he fainted, hitting the floor hard.

"He was Tou-san's student?"

"The only one left alive, yes. And apparently he needs some time to come to terms with everything. He thought, he would never see you again, you know? With your mother… and will you make the tea now? He will wake up soon enough, without anything major. He is an ANBU after all. But I want that tea!" Jiraiya pouted.

"You put him onto the sofa and I make the tea, deal?" Before Naruto could even blink, the pervert vanished with the unconscious Kakashi faster than even the Hiraishin would allow it.

That was going to be a long and tiring night… But looking out the window, he just knew that it was worth it. Where else could he see the faces of his ancestors and most importantly that of his dad every day without even leaving the house?

* * *

><p>So, sorry I took so long, but the university kept me occupied and I totally forgot to write, when I had the much needed time ^^°<p>

But well, here is the first chapter of Naruto coming to Konoha. I will try to write another chapter in the holidays. But I won't promise anything. I still have to learn for university, my driving license, look for a new place to live, and meet up with my boyfriend and other friends or die of boredom .

Before I forget:** THANKIES FOR THE REVIEWS AND PLEASE CONTINUE COMMENTING!**

It's what keeps me writing, because otherwise… the story is already finished in three different versions in my head, but I can't decide how I want it to end… and then I gotta type it all… .

Well, I kind of figured out how **the poll** thing works and **until I publish the end of the Wave-Arc,** **you can choose on my profile****!**

**MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYBODY!**


	13. Ninja Academy

Chapter 12: Ninja Academy

Kakashi didn't touch his tea. While Jiraiya was already drinking his ninth cup, like it was some kind of new sake, the ANBU couldn't. He was too mesmerized by the little boy sitting in front of him. The boy was his sensei's son, Minato's kid. He was the one Kakashi wanted to see grow up, to help him walk and teach him jutsus.

Naruto was the one he thought dead.

"Ehm. I know you are in shock, but could you please stop looking at me so awkward?" The boy said while still drinking his first cup of tea.

"You are really alive," Kakashi only said. He couldn't say much else. The boy looked like a Minato clone with different hair! And if he really dyed it, maybe it actually _was_ his sensei's color.

"Yes. Kura-chan told me what happened, but I can assure you, I am quite alive," Naruto tried to put his father's student at ease with a smile, but it seemed to have a negative effect.

"I am not going crazy, am I?" The ANBU asked the Sannin without really realizing the kid had spoken to him.

"Did you try the tea yet?"Jiraiya replied without even looking up.

"No?"

"Then you are not even beginning to go crazy. And you can trust me on that one!" The Toad Eremite laughed about his own joke, only to get bitten in the leg from an annoyed TonTon, who quickly hid behind Naruto before the Sannin could lay a finger on her, "You little-"

"Stop it," Naruto said with all authority, he could master, "Back to topic please. You," he pointed at his godfather, "want him," he moved his finger at Kakashi, "to play babysitter for me, while you are out of the village. Don't you think I learned enough about how to take care of myself while you and kaa-chan got drunk?"

Before answering, Jiraiya gave the heaviest sigh he could master and poured himself another cup of tea. Damn, he hated it when his godson was a smart ass.

"Listen up, Gaki. It's not about you not being able to take care of yourself, but about you not being discovered. I mean choose what others could discover about you! If it's your heritage, it does not even take an hour for the first marriage proposal and all that political stuff. If it's your kekkei genkai, it does not even take a minute for the CRA to be enforced. And if it's about your status… Let's just say, you will have even less time, got it?"

"Okay, okay, I got it," but that didn't mean he had to like it, Naruto added in his thoughts, only to hear Kurama laughing.

"You look so much like him," the ANBU said and his eye seemed to smile for the first time, "Would you like to hear some stories about your old man?"

Jiraiya could only tell stories about his dad in the war time and back when the man had still been a mere student. His Kaa-chan tried to not speak about the fastest Hokage ever. And his onee-chan knew nearly nothing about him.

Naruto gave a bright smile, "I'd like to hear them."

* * *

><p>The four sat together until the first rays of the sun looked through Naruto's window, before they finally decided to call it a night. Kakashi promised happily to Jiraiya to have his eye on Naruto and to make sure, he would be safe. Of course they had to tell him everything about Kurama and Naruto's mokuton, but that was worth it.<p>

Now, after only a couple hours of sleep, Naruto was on his way to the academy. For his very first day of normal school, he was just way too excited. TonTon nearly had to run to keep up with the boy. Also, the Senju nearly forgot his signed academy application, hadn't the pig reminded him.

From time to time he looked up to the Stone Faces, smiling at the father, he never met and promising him to give his best.

He also tried to ignore the Uchiha Corps standing in nearly every alley, watching the daily routines at the streets and helping out here and there. But wherever he went, they seemed to give him special attention. And Naruto just knew that if he had founded the Shi no Mononoke here, they wouldn't have survived long…

As he arrived at the academy, the Senju was really surprised, how many children came to become shinobis. He wondered, how big his class would be and how many friends he would make. Would he do well?

Noticing Naruto's discomfort TonTon oinked and looked straight into the boy's eyes. He just smiled back.

"_Will you move inside already? That gets so annoying, you know?"_ Kura-chan yelled.

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered silently. TonTon leaded him to the chunin office and Naruto did not even want to ask, how the pig knew.

Knocking on the door three times, he waited and wondered what his teacher would be like. Would he be a war veteran, like his mother and godfather? Or would he be more like a newbie? Male or female? Bookworm or-

His thoughts were interrupted by the door, which wasn't just being opened, but nearly slammed into Naruto's face.

"What is it?" A silver haired chunin asked, no, yelled at the mokuton user.

"Excuse me, but I was told to come here," the Senju tried to reply in a even voice and not let his anger be seen, "My name is Naruto and I am here to be put in class 6-B"

The chunin looked him over once, before snatching the papers out of the mokuton user's hands, which he had nearly forgotten. Looking them over, he absently pointed at the pig.

"What about the pet? Does it want to become the meal of any Inuzuka hounds or what is it doing here?"

"TonTon," Naruto stated and nearly had to laugh with the memory of TonTon defeating Mukuro, his imouto's tiger on more than one occasion, "is going to be fine. I don't think any dog would want to eat her"

Grunting, like he had an annoyance standing in front of him, the chunin leaned back into the office, calling for somebody. Not a second later another chunin with a scar across his nose appeared behind him.

"Iruka, you think you can take care of Mister Shinobi-wannabe?" He asked without looking at his fellow instructor or Naruto's twitching eyebrow.

"Sure. Leave it to me, Mizuki"

Grunting, Mizuki left and wouldn't it have been for the other chunin, he might have slammed the door again.

"Please, don't take to heart, what Mizuki said. He has his times, when he can be a real annoyance, but he is a nice guy and good teacher, ehm," he looked at the papers, "Naruto"

"That's me," the boy smiled.

"Okay. You are in my class, so just follow me and introduce yourself to the class when I tell you. Also," he skimmed through the papers while walking down the stairs, "may I ask if you are sure, you will keep up? The graduation exam is in three weeks, I need to know if you are able to handle it. Your papers only say you were trained by a family member?"

"Don't worry, I will score every point. Just you wait and see!" TonTon oinked and it seemed as if she tried to emphasize Naruto's point. The boy just hoped the chunin wouldn't keep up the questioning. What if he would answer something different, than he did before? People would notice it sooner or later.

"That's right give it your best," the man laughed happily and came to a sudden halt in front of a wooden door, "So, here we are. Wait here until I call your name, okay?"

The Senju just nodded, while he watched the chunin open the door. From one second to another yelling and screaming filled his ears. He heard some girls crying about their "Sasuke-kun", barking, the destruction of some wooden furniture, chairs if he had to guess, even a soft snoring could be heard from the room of chaos.

"SILENCE!" Iruka shouted and the mokuton user noticed that it wasn't even half as loud and angry as his kaa-chan normally was. The chunin defiantly missed some Killing Intent there, even if his head became somewhat big…

"GET TO YOUR SEATS AT ONCE, OR THERE WILL BE DETENTION AND WOULD SOMEBODY WAKE UP SHIKAMARU?!"

The room became quiet, with exception of a muttered "Mendokusei".

"We have a new student," Iruka sighed, before turning back to the Senju "Please introduce yourself"

With TonTon leading him again, he entered the room and closed the door before turning fully to the class. He bowed once slightly, before speaking up to all the other students his age, who looked like a bunch of weirdos to him.

"Good morning, my name is Naruto and this is TonTon," he pointed at the pig and smiled brightly at the class, "I hope we get along well"

"Is that a pig?" A boy from the last row called out, he looked somewhat canine-like, with those large and pointy teeth of his.

Iruka said nothing, just looking through the papers on his desk, so Naruto felt save to answer.

"Yeah, but you shouldn't underestimate her," As if she got the clue, TonTon growled evilly at the boy and he couldn't help but shrink a little into his seat.

"Naruto, please take your seat next to Shino-kun," he pointed at a boy in the third row hidden in his own trench coat wearing sunglasses.

The Senju just nodded and went up to the seat, now noticing that the blond haired and pink haired girls in the second row, tried to look like they were sitting on chairs. Only, that there were none. They lay destroyed on the floor not seen by the chunin, because the table hid them quiet well.

"_Well, what do you say, the chairs were destroyed!"_ He thought and explained his right guess with the destruction-hobby of his Kaa-chan.

The boy sitting between the girls with a duck butt haircut seemed not to care about it at all. In a matter of fact, he tried to lean away from them trying to escape, but it was with no avail.

To Naruto's left sat a fairly big student eating chips and a boy who seemed to sleep, even when the teacher yelled at him again. But after answering a question correctly, he went straight back to sleep without a care in the world.

Naruto let his eyes wander over the other students, before finally sitting down and looking at the boy next to him. He felt many different chakra signatures from him, but didn't know what to do, when he smiled and the boy just looked away. Maybe he was shy to people?

TonTon oinked silently, telling Naruto to at least try to look, like he was paying attention and Naruto obliged. He listened to the summary of the last week and the new topic, the alliances with Suna, Kumo, Iwa and Kiri.

Not even two minutes later, he asked himself if he really wanted to be in that lesson…

* * *

><p>Scratch that. He wondered if he really wanted to be in that class.<p>

As soon as the first period was over, he was showered with questions from nearly every student. Normally he only had contact to adults and animals, his sister being an exception. But he wasn't used to the chaos children his age produced.

One question was asked about three times over and then over again, leaving him no space to breathe. The questions varied from, where he came from and who trained him to what his favorite color was or what kind of boxers he wore.

TonTon growled at everybody and nearly bit of a hand of a boy named Kiba, who had asked again, if she really was a pig. Too say it was totally not helping, was an underestimation.

Ninja academy was a Horror, with a capital H, if you would.

Just as he was about to lose his cool to the fifth person asking, where he came from, the boy with the duck butt haircut came up to him, looking him straight into the eye.

"Are you strong?" He asked and everybody fell silent. A pink haired girl even covered the mouth of one of the boys to keep him quiet.

"Strength is relative. You could compare it to the Hokage and be a total weakling and you could compare it to a baby and be its God."

The boy smiled and stretched his hand out, "Sasuke. Uchiha Sasuke"

Naruto took it, smiling while the little pig just stared at the newcomer angrily: "Just Naruto"

"So, wanna fight in the next lesson? We can choose our matches today on our own," the Uchiha elaborated and Naruto could see from the looks that he got, that the kid was normally the best in class and wanted to keep that title.

"Sure, why not," if his family would have been there, each one of them would have punched him on the head. He wanted to stay undercover. To beat one of the best students in the academy would not really help. It would just complicate everything.

And because they weren't there, TonTon had a new job to do.

"Ouch! Damn it!" She had bit him in his free hand. After all, pigs could not easily reach the top of a genin's head.

* * *

><p>"All right, class. A match ends if we have to interfere, one of the participants admits defeat or in the worst case, somebody is knocked out cold. You all were told yesterday to choose your own sparring partner, so I hope, you do well and found somebody with nearly your strength," Iruka advised them.<p>

They were standing outside of the academy building at an open training space. Some of the students chatted quietly with their partners and some others argued. The chunin instructor Mizuki had joined up with them and seemed a lot happier than before. Why? Nobody was able to say.

"So, who of you wants to start?" The silver haired chunin asked as happy as Tsunade in a casino with some million Ryo lying next to her.

Before he hadn't even finished the question Sasuke stepped up to the fighting area and threw an expecting look in Naruto's direction.

"If we may?" The Senju politely asked while following the Uchiha.

Iruka seemed a little confused by this and even the other chunin awoke from his happy daydream or whatever it was, he was thinking about. But they shrugged it off pretty fast.

"Sure," Iruka stepped next to both of them and put his arm between the boys' faces. He looked them both over once, before stepping away, "HAJIME!"

Sasuke was the first to move. He ran up to Naruto and tried to punch him in the face, but the Senju just side stepped it with ease. So, the Uchiha tried to go after his opponents' body with a kick, but again he was gone.

Not showing the frustration on his face, he tried to hit Naruto again and again, but it was just like trying to catch a leave in the wind. He was side stepping every attack with ease and-

Sasuke blinked. The boy was gone. He shook his head and looked left and right, but the other boy remained vanished.

No, this couldn't be. He had to be here. In the background he heard the soft chuckling from another student, which he just professionally ignored.

The Uchiha looked above him and under him, before he noticed, from the corner of his eye, his opponent was behind him. There was his shadow! And each movement he made, the other one evaded his eyes by coping them partly.

Angry with himself for falling for such a low trick, he jumped backwards over Naruto and threw already a punch at him, but the other one expected it _again_ and just side stepped it!

"Damn it! Fight me seriously here!" Sasuke yelled at him. He knew the other had had plenty of opportunities to knock him out, so why didn't he?

"But we are fighting to improve. And you might be strong, but what good is your strength if you do not reach your enemy?"

Sasuke glared at him. Why did he- Wait. That actually made sense. And this Naruto person was being honest about it. He seemed to just want to help him get better. He was not toying with him, like his older brother did or beating him to a pup like his own father had done on several _training sessions_.

That was really a new one for the proud Uchiha.

"So, you want to admit defeat if I can throw a punch at you?"

"Sure," the dark haired boy replied with a smile.

Sasuke charged again. Right punch, left punch, right kick, hand-stand, two quick kicks, landing on his legs, right punch…

It went on for several minutes and Iruka was watching the fight with huge eyes. The whole class tried to provide support with different exclamations, some girls even started to fight about who of the two fighters would be a better mate.

Silently Iruka was wondering, what kind of kid that Naruto was. He was faster than the average genin and even if they had some little geniuses in the academy sometimes, the chunin felt, like the boy was still holding back.

"You break of the furies. I will keep an eye on the match?" Mizuki asked him, without even turning around.

Iruka could only nod. The kids nowadays were so surreal…

"Ino! Sakura!" He cried, before even turning around. If the girls were fighting, you knew for sure, those two had to be involved.

"What is it Iruka-sensei?" They asked, perfectly synchronized, while lying on the floor with some other girls and holding onto each others hair with the left hand, the right one ready to give a decent punch.

"No fighting if you haven't started the match yet, got it?" He tried to glare evilly at them, but the two could make so cute puppy eyes and then he would feel sorry again or be ashamed of himself for- NO! He had to be strong!

"Resist the eyes, Resist the eyes," he quietly chanted, confusing some other students who were still too focused on the fight to notice their teacher coming back to them.

"Yatta! He did it!" Another girl screamed and Iruka turned around just in time to see Naruto standing up from the floor, rubbing his right shoulder.

"That was a good one, Sasuke," he admitted laughing.

The Uchiha seemed to stare at him, before also giving a soft smile.

"If I hadn't made you trip, I would still be trying to hit you like a maniac. Thanks for the good fight"

They both smiled and shook hands, before they went back to the other students. Some of them watched in disbelieve. That had been so surreal.

Sasuke met somebody, who was faster than him. They both fought. Sasuke still _won_. But they shook hands afterwards. The proud-and-normally-not-even-in-the-slightest-talka tive student of their class spoke more than three sentences in a day with a different person.

For Kami's sake, he _smiled_!

"What are you waiting for! We don't have all day!" Mizuki yelled at the class expecting the next couple and everything was normal again – for a moment.

* * *

><p>Itachi waited in front of the academy for his younger brother. Sure, Sasuke was too old to be picked up from school, but Itachi had been rarely in the village in the last couple of months and he wanted to spend some time with his innocent little brother.<p>

His brother normally was one of the lonely students if you did not count his enormous fan club. All Uchiha seemed to be loners. It was part of their nature you could say. His mother being already really social with having a friend outside the clan named Kushina. A weird and scary woman, Itachi thought, even thought she had been his mentor for a time.

"Back from your mission?" A soft voiced asked.

Even without turning around, he recognized his comrade's voice. She had been in a chunin team with him and he had heard about her getting a job here at the academy, to teach the younger generation, even if she already became a Special Jonin.

"Since two hours."

"The ANBU is going to get you all tired out, not to mention killed, Itachi!" Kurenai stepped in front of him, pointing her finger into his chest, "Sensei is really worried about you. You should go and visit her, when you have the time to stroll around!"

Itachi smiled. Yes, the people you were in a team together would always worry about you and be totally outspoken about it. But their chunin team had been a weird one…

Kurenai and Maito Gai had been Kushina Uzumaki's genin students, the only two that survived the war. And as they made chunin, Itachi became part of their little group, because the rest of his team either died or dropped out of the shinobi program.

"I will get it all worked out, don't you worry," he replied and looked straight into her eyes.

"Whatever," she gave a heavy sigh, clearly remembering that you could in fact not win an argument with an Uchiha.

"The Kids will be out in a moment and I still have to correct papers."

"So, you just got out to speak with me? I feel honored," Itachi teased her.

"Well, I never see you and you don't stop by at our old meeting spot!" Her red eyes pierced into his and if Itachi wouldn't have seen it before, he would have stepped back.

"Knowing you, you just talk to me to keep your relationship with A-"

"_Don't_."

The Uchiha just smiled and shrugged his shoulders. In the background rang the school bell and, with a quick bye bye, Kurenai ran back to the building.

Itachi just shook his head. His chunin team had literary been crazy. Gai had been… Gai. He deserved an adjective for his own. As well as his sensei Kushina. That woman might have killed them on more than just one occasion. And Kurenai? Well, she was better _now_. Back then she had the unhealthy habit of turning each male into her boyfriend for 24 hours max. She had argued that it had to do with her family tactics, but nobody really believed her… save for Gai and Kushina!

He was so happy for being in ANBU right now…

Itachi looked at the gate in front of the academy. He blinked. He closed his eyes, counted to ten and opened them again. Was he going nuts?

There came his little brother. But not alone, like the Uchiha expected him to. He had another boy his age with him. That, Itachi would still have come to terms with, but – they talked. They talked to each other. And he did _not_ mean the foreign kid doing all the speaking and Sasuke throwing in one word or another.

No.

They were both doing the talking thing, meaning: opening your mouth, moving the stuff inside there, lips and tongue and-

That sounded so wrong in his thoughts.

"Hey, nii-chan! May I introduce to you Naruto? He got into our class today," his little otouto said, before turning to the boy, "Naruto, this is my brother Itachi. He is already in ANBU!"

Something oinked up from the hard concrete of the street and the Uchiha had to blink. Was there a pig looking up at him? No it was glaring at his brother. A pig… and it wore a jacket and… necklace?

"I am sorry," his brother smiled down, "So this is our glamorous TonTon, nii-chan," Sasuke added

"Nice to meet you," the dark haired kid smiled at the older Uchiha while the pig oinked a greeting and the ANBU wondered, where he saw that smile before.

"Hello," Itachi tried to keep it simple. He did not really want to interact with them, but more likely observe his brother…

"I gotta go that way," Naruto pointed to his left, "Where do you need to go?"

"The other way," Sasuke replied and Itachi was not quite sure, but he thought, he heard some sadness in the voice, while he also swore at his delayed project _'What-the-hell-is-wrong?!'_

"Okay, well, I will see you tomorrow again. Have a good day!" Smiling the boy ran off the street, followed by the pig.

The older Uchiha stared at his brother. Was that really his otouto?

"Tou-san said yesterday I should get to know him. But now… I like him. He is my friend."

Itachi still stared at him.

"I know he is a little weird, but he is strong!"

Itachi still stared at him.

"And he is not even half as annoying as the other kids"

Itachi still kept staring at him.

"Look, he knows what he is talking about and not once were his intentions not sincere"

"Don't misunderstand my silence for you to explain your relationships. I am just, to be bluntly, really surprised"

* * *

><p>Naruto went to his new apartment, just to have two people already waiting there for him. Jiraiya and Kakashi both had tried to cook something for their little one's first day in the academy!<p>

But both forgot one important thing. None of them could actually cook.

After setting the kitchen on fire for the sixth time and nearly blowing up the oven for the fourth time, they just got some to-go food and set the table.

Naruto decided to not comment on the matter and just be happy about the day. His godfather would leave on the next day early in the morning. Afterwards he would be nearly alone in a village for months, where he only really knew a pig. And let's face it TonTon could not be that talkative.

"Thank you, guys," the Senju happily replied to a pack of ramen from a restaurant called Ichiraku.

"You are welcome, Gaki. So. How was your first day?" His godfather asked with a bright smile.

"At first it was very boring and lonely. But now… I think it will be fun!"

Jiraiya laughed and spilled some of his own ramen on TonTon, for which the pig attacked him fiercely. It was a nice sight, a Sannin trying to get away from a furious little animal.

Naruto giggled softly and tried to save his food from the rambling couple. But Kakashi ignored their antics and smiled softly at his sensei's son. He would be protecting him, while Jiraiya was away. That he swore on his life!

* * *

><p><strong>Joaps. So, this is the new chapter.<br>**

**I am in university since October last year and it was all soooo amazing! I could hardly focus on writing XD And now I only got some time, because I didn't want to write my homework yet ^^° **

**But that is no real excuse for taking so long. I will try to upload faster now that I am done with most of the character introdutions. I already hae lots of plans in my head and can't wait to get them on my comp! ^O^**

**I hope you have a nice day and please:  
>READ AND REVIEW!<strong>


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